Himachal cabinet announces support price for mangoes

By: Ravinder Makhaik

Cabinet Decisions

Cabinet nod for setting up 600 MW pithead thermal plant in West Bengal

Shimla: To meet power shortages especially in winter months, the Himachal cabinet today decided to set up a 600 pithead thermal plant in west Bengal under a joint venture, even as it approved continuation of the market intervention scheme (MIS) for fruits by announcing minimum support price (MSP) for mangoes and gave its nod for starting emergency ambulance services under a private public partnership mode.

Presided over by chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal the cabinet granted permission for setting up the proposed joint-venture thermal power plant with HP Power Corporation Ltd and Eastern Minerals & Trading Agency (EMTA) Power Ltd as partners.

On being allocated a coal pithead in West Bengal, the 600 MW thermal plant would involve an investment of Rs 4000 crore and would help to supplement power needs, a cabinet spokesman said.

For implementing the MIS scheme the cabinet announced opening of 34 procurement centers where both natural grown and grafted variety of mangoes would be bought between July 1 and August 15 at the differing rates of Rs 4.58 and Rs 5.25 per Kg. The procurement agencies, HPMC, HIMFED and HP Agro Industries would be entitled Rs 1.30 per Kg as handling charges.

After having failed to get the emergency medical response transport system operational in an earlier bidding process, the cabinet today decided to enter into a PPP agreement with Hyderabad based Emergency Management and Research Institute for getting started the ambulance services.

To keep the Himachal transport corporation afloat, the cabinet approved amendment in the Transport Policy-2004 by permitting rationalization of unviable and uneconomic routes being operated.

For the benefit of small hydropower producers, the cabinet made amends to 2006, Hydro Power Policy. It also approved Himachal Pradesh Electricity (Duty) Amendment Ordinance, 2010.

The cabinet carried out an amendment in Rule 69-A of Himachal Pradesh Motor Vehicles Rules, 1999 and deleted category ‘Goods Carriages’ from the regime of composite fee prescribed.

Under the New National Permit Scheme truck owners shall be required to deposit permit fee of Rs 15,000 with respective Regional Transport Officer and transport goods all over the country, instead of three states permitted earlier, for one year without any hassle with there being a provision of depositing the permit fee in cash or online.

For getting the Himachal Pradesh Technical University operational, 25 posts of teaching and non-teaching staff were sanctioned by the cabinet.

Permission for starting two additional courses of civil engineering and electronics & communications engineering at Government Engineering College Sundernagar was granted. Ten additional posts in teaching an non-teaching categories were also approved.

Filling up of 187 vacancies in the Technical and Vocational Education Department were approved, of which the posts of clerks and class IV were to filled in from the pool of existing surplus employees.
Permission to expand the jurisdiction by of municipal limits of Mandi, Solan, Palampur, Nahan, Nalagarh, Sarkaghat, Rewalsar and Arki by bringing additional villages under their ambit was granted..

The cabinet approved leasing out of government land to Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes (RSETI) operated by committees constituted by banks under Rural Development Department in the districts of Mandi, Kullu and Una on a token lease of Re 1 per annum for 33 years.