Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath along with deupty CMs Keshav Maurya and Brijesh Pathak at a press conference after first cabinet meeting at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow on saturday. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav) The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday cleared the proposal to provide 2.5 acres of land free of cost for setting up a regional centre of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Lucknow.
Speaking to mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said that Lucknow will be one of the six new centres of NCDC in the country. “2.5 acres of land in Jaitikhera in Sarojini Nagar area of Lucknow has been identified for setting up the centre. The land will be given on lease to the NCDC for 30 years. The NCDC had set a condition that it would open a regional centre if it got free land,” Pathak, who holds the portfolio of Health Department and Medical Education, said.
NCDC has its headquarters in Delhi and eight out-station branches located in Alwar in Rajasthan, Bengaluru in Karnataka, Kozhikode in Kerala, Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh, Patna in Bihar, Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
The move to set up a new centre of NCDC in UP assumes significance especially in the times of Covid-19 pandemic as it undertakes investigations in disease outbreaks and would be helpful in early identification and detection. The NCDC also provides “diagnostic services” to individuals, medical colleges, research institutions etc.
The Cabinet also cleared a proposal to provide 25 per cent reservation to lab assistants for the posts of lab technicians. “There has been a long pending demand of lab assistants that they should be promoted to the post of lab technicians. Therefore, we have decided to fill 25 per cent of vacant posts of lab technicians by promoting existing lab assistants. The remaining 75 per cent of vacant posts will be filled directly,” the Deputy CM added.
The Cabinet also cleared the proposal to provide 4 per cent reservation to differently-abled in judicial services.
Among the 14 decisions taken in the Cabinet meeting, the government decided to purchase 153 pistols for Home Guard Department.
Deputy CM said that while INSAS rifles were given to personnel of Home Guards, some officials were given pistols.
Other decisions included infrastructure development mostly related to tourism.
The Cabinet gave its nod to setting up three helipads — one each in Agra, Mathura and Prayagraj — to promote tourism under Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The Cabinet also cleared the proposal to set up a helipad for tourists at Ramabai Sthal in Lucknow.
The Cabinet also cleared the proposal for four-laning of the 82-km-long Utraya Ghatampur-Bindki road under the PPP model. Cabinet Minister Suresh Khanna said the total cost of the project would be about Rs 1,136 crore. “In a fresh initiative, it has been decided that whatever fees will be realised by the developer, 1 per cent will be given to the state government,” Khanna added.
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