Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. (PTI) Punjab Cabinet on Saturday approved a special package of incentives for new mega and ultra-mega projects to attract investment in these projects across the state.
The move, said a government statement, will boost economy and generate employment.
Projects with fixed capital investment of Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500 crore with minimum contract demand of 20 MVA will be treated as mega projects and projects with fixed capital investment of above Rs 2,500 crore and minimum contract demand of 30 MVA shall be treated as ultra-mega projects.
Under the special package, the projects will be provided special power tariff for 4 years to mega projects and 5 years to new ultra-mega projects from the date of release of permanent power connection. Similarly, the incentive of net GST reimbursement will be available at the rate of 100 per cent of net GST with a cap of up to 200 per cent to be availed over a maximum period of 17 years for mega projects and 20 years for ultra mega projects. This special package of incentive shall be available to only those units which will file their common application form (CAF) before October 17, 2022 and will attain commercial production within 3 years (mega projects) and 4 years (ultra-mega projects) from date of submission of CAF.
In another decision, the Cabinet also gave nod to waive off pending arrears of electricity bills of all Gaushalas in Punjab.
Keeping in view the possibility of third wave of Covid-19, the Cabinet also decided to retain and extend the services of manpower already engaged on outsource basis in Government Medical Colleges of Patiala and Amritsar till March 31, 2022. With this decision, the Cabinet approved extension to the 789 posts of Isolation Ward and 7 VRDL from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. However, this move would help the state government to tackle emergent situation arising out of any eventuality and lessen the burden on the healthcare facilities.
Soil quality control
The Cabinet approved setting up of Design, Quality Control Monitoring and Evaluation Wing in the Soil and Water Conservation Department.
The dedicated wing would not entail any additional government expenditure, but would help farmer community especially small and marginal farmers which are often devoid of government benefits as due to copybook planning and designing.
The Soil and Water Conservation department is implementing various government programmes for laying of underground pipelines, drip and sprinkler systems for increasing irrigation water use efficiency besides construction of water harvesting structures, roof top rain water harvesting structures, check dams for augmenting ground water recharge. All these works require proper designing, estimation so that government funds are expended in an efficient manner, the government said.
Intelligent irrigation
The Cabinet also gave a go ahead to set up a Micro Irrigation (MI)-Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in the Soil and Water Conservation Department for promotion of intelligent irrigation systems in the state.
The state has been implementing Micro Irrigation programme for the past over 15 years and despite providing 80-90 per cent subsidy to the farmers for these systems, adoption of these systems has been far from satisfactory, as only about 1.2 per cent area has been covered under these irrigation systems.
Several other states of the country have seen quantum jump in adoption of micro irrigation systems by the farmers due to constitution of this dedicated approach for implementation of Micro Irrigation in these states.
New tehsils/sub-divisions
The Cabinet also approved up-gradation of Sub-Tehsil Tanda in Hoshiarpur district and Adampur in Jalandhar district as Tehsils/Sub-Divisions.
The newly upgraded Tehsil/Sub-Division Tanda would comprise of five Kanungo Circle, 47 Patwar Circles and 133 villages whereas Adampur would consist of six Kanungo Circles, 60 Patwar circles and 161 villages.
Dental service rules
In order to bring uniformity, the Cabinet also approved Punjab Dental Education (Group-A) Service (Amendment) Rules, 2021 according to the norms of Dental Council of India, New Delhi. This decision would be instrumental in filling the vacant post of medical faculty in government dental colleges across the state.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
