Important Decisions in Cabinet Meeting

Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje chaired meeting of the State Cabinet at CMO on Wednesday. Important decisions taken during the meeting include complete disinvestment of Giral Lignite Power Ltd, start of special campaign to resolve passage disputes from November 1 and a drive of Panchayat Camps from October 14.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shri Rajendra Rathore told the mediapersons that in view of the success of Nyay Aapke Dwar (Justice at Your Doorstep) campaign by the Revenue Department and a long pending demand of farmers for resolution of passage disputes, the Cabinet decided to complete homework for the statewide in September-October and launch the crusade from November 1. This drive would continue till December 15. Also, about 11, 247 cases of passage dispute had been resolved during the Nyay Aapke Dwar campaign 2016.

Shri Rathore said that another drive of organizing camps at Atal Seva Kendras of every Panchayat would begin from October 14. During this, Block-level officials of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Social Justice & Empowerment, Women Empowerment, Food & Civil Supplies, Medical & Health and Revenue departments would remain present to resolve the public grievances. District collectors would be nodal officers for these camps, he said.

The Minister said that considering the fact that different undertakings of Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd were running in loss continuously, the RB Shah Task Force recommended for disinvestment of two units of 125MW production capacity of Giral Lignite Power Ltd at Barmer. The Cabinet resolved for a policy decision for 100 percent disinvestment of these units. He said that production was forced to shut frequently due to excess presence of Sulphur in lignite and other technical reasons. Also, total losses in the plant amounting to 786.71 crore rupees in the year 2014-15 swelled upto 958.91 crore rupees in 2015-16. Per unit loss on power production was Rs 4.97 in 2014-15, which increased to Rs 9.32 in 2015-16. In view of this, the state government decided to disinvest this unit in a transparent manner through open bidding process as per the procedure described by the Disinvestment Department of the Government of India, he added.

Shri Rathore further said that second phase of Mukhyamantri Jal Swavalamban Abhiyan (MJSA) would start in 4,200 villages from November 16. He said that preparations were underway for this and total 1.30 lakh works costing 1950 crore rupees would be completed. Target of funds through CSR and public donations had been kept at 100 crore rupees. It was further decided to spend 25% of the MLA LAD funds for the MJSA works. This year, tree plantation would also be part of the detailed project report of the campaign, he said.

The Minister said that the Cabinet also discussed the proposed Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet (GRAM-2016) to be organised at Jaipur Exhibition And Convention Centre, Sitapura between November 9 and 11. During this, exhibitions and conferences would be organized where specialists and experts would give lectures to the farmers on modern and traditional techniques of agriculture. At least one farmer from each village would participate in this. Total 50,000 farmers are expected to participate in this, of which 20% would be woman farmers, he said. Arrangements were also being made for special trains from Barmer, Ganganagar and Udaipur to Jaipur and telecast of the event at Atal Seva Kendras across the state, he added.

Shri Rathore said that the Cabinet also decided to amend the Rajasthan TSP Area, Subordinate, Clerk Grade and Grade IV service rules and make provision for a committee of the Head of Department, District Collector and District-level officer of the department for selection during direct recruitment. This amendment was made to have uniformity in selection at state-level and TSP regions. Also, amendment in Rajasthan Civil Service (Pension) Rules had been approved by the State Cabinet, he said.

Jaipur, 14th September 2016