Chandigarh, August 12

After a gap of nearly eight weeks, the next meeting of Punjab council of ministers will be held on August 16.

The next meeting of the Punjab cabinet will take place at 3 pm on August 16 through video conference, according to an official order.

The last cabinet meeting was held on June 18.

It will be the first cabinet meeting after Navjot Singh Sidhu took over as the Punjab Congress chief.

Though the agenda of the Punjab cabinet meeting will come later, a new Bill that seeks to earmark a part of the state’s annual budget for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes in proportion to their population in the state, is likely to be taken up for approval.

Last month, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had given his nod for putting before the cabinet the ‘Punjab State Welfare and Development of Scheduled Castes (Planning, Earmarking and Utilization of Financial Resources) Sub-Allocation Bill, 2021’, thus paving the way for its enactment in the next session of the state assembly.

The Bill will also enable the government to put in place an institutional mechanism to formulate and monitor the implementation of the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP), and matters connected with it. PTI