by Punjabnewswire4u (Balbir)
CHANDIGARH, JUNE 18
The Punjab
Cabinet today approved the Budget proposals for the year 2012-13 to be
presented by the Finance Minister Mr Parminder Singh Dhindsa in the state
Legislative Assembly on June 20.
A decision to this effect was taken
in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Punjab Chief
Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal here at CMO this morning.
Disclosing this here today a
spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that in a significant
development, the Punjab Cabinet gave approval to carry out a massive plantation
drive under the name of “Greening Punjab Project” on the vacant lands available
in rural and urban areas, for which a corpus naming “Greening Punjab Fund” has
been created to make the entire state clean, green and pollution free in a
phased manner.
Under this ambitious program trees and
plants of different species depicting state’s flora would be planted across the
state and the entire program would be funded through the Corpus, created from
the funds contributed by the various Boards, Corporations, authorities and
departments. Even the private sector and
corporate would also contribute for this scheme under the clause of Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) enshrined in the Companies Act. A society, trust or
company would be constituted under the Chief Minister for this purpose. The
plantation drive would be undertaken on the lands owned by Government
departments, institutions, Panchayats, Trusts, clubs, Focal Points, Markets,
cremation grounds besides land in the vicinity of Police lines, Stations and
Jails, Educational and Medical institutions including Hospitals, Dispensaries,
Health Care Centers and Tehsil level offices and institutions of the Government
of India (GoI).
Apart from carrying out extensive
plantation drive these institutions would also be required to ensure upkeep and
maintenance of these trees atleast for five years. Adequate measures would also
be taken to create awareness amongst the general public for the importance of
this vigorous “Greening Punjab Campaign”
through publication of publicity material in the form of pamphlets, brochures,
booklets besides organizing various functions and meetings from time to time.
The Cabinet also passed a resolution
expressing profound grief and anguish over the recent unfortunate incident of
Cow slaughter in Joga in Mansa District. Condemning the incident the Cabinet
expressed satisfaction over the action being taken by the state administration
against the culprits responsible for this barbaric act. The Cabinet further
assured the people that the action initiated to award ‘severest of the severe’
punishment to each and every criminal involved in this heinous crime would
continue till its logical end and none would be spared whosoever connected with
this crime directly or indirectly.
The Cabinet gave consent for setting up
of Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) to oversee implementation of
various traffic, transport measures and mobility projects undertaken by various
agencies in the Municipal Corporation areas in Punjab besides ensuring
effective public transport system in the urban sector.
The Cabinet gave nod for transferring
both Government Degree
College and Government
College for Physical Education at
Patti in Tarn Taran district to the Guru
Nanak Dev
University, Amritsar.
It was also decided in the meeting that
all the Cabinet Ministers would voluntarily offer to forego their 10% of
monthly allowances as a part of the austerity measures. This decision would
also be applicable to all the Chief Parliamentary Secretaries of the state.
The Cabinet also discussed the
prevailing situation regarding the supply of minor minerals especially sand and
gravel in the state. In order to address the problem and ensure adequate supply
of these materials at reasonable rates, a Cabinet sub-committee has been
constituted which would submit its comprehensive report in this regard.
The Cabinet approved the conversion of
the Punjab Municipal (Amendment) Ordinance 2012, Punjab Municipal Corporation
(Amendment) Ordinance 2012 and Punjab Municipal Fund (Amendment) Ordinance 2012
into Bills for its enactment in the forthcoming Budget session of the state
legislative Assembly to legislate the abolition of Octroi on the Petrol and
Diesel within the Municipal limits of the urban areas.
Likewise the Cabinet also approved the
draft of the Punjab Common Infrastructure (Regulation and Maintenance) Bill
2012, for its enactment in the ensuing Budget Session of the Punjab
Vidhan Sabha. This bill aims at creating of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs)
comprising of private and government officials to look after the maintenance of
infra structure in the Focal Points so that their upkeep is raised to the
desired level.
The Cabinet also gave approval to rename
the Directorate Sainik Welfare Punjab as Directorate Defence Services Welfare, Punjab.
The Cabinet also gave nod to the draft
Bills for the setting up of two private universities namely “Adesh University”
at Bathinda by Adesh Foundation, Muktsar and “Chandigarh University” at Gharuan
in SAS Nagar (Mohali) by Chandigarh Educational Trust for its enactment in the
coming budget session of the state Legislative Assembly.
The Cabinet also gave approval to remit
stamp duty on urban agriculture land on its transfer to the class-I heirs
during the life time of the owner as was done for residential and commercial
property in urban areas.
The Cabinet also gave approval to
transfer 13 villages of Block Jandiala Guru and 3 villages of block Majitha in
Verka block of Amritsar
district in the larger public interest subject to the resolutions passed by the
respective Panchayats.
The Cabinet also approved the creation
of new posts in the district level offices of the Rural Development and
Panchayat Department in the new districts of Fazilka and Pathankot.
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