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Rs 1464 crore Financial Restructuring Plan of HPSEB Ltd. Approved : CM
The Government has approved Rs 1464 crore Financial Restructuring Plan of the Board and it was committed to provide 24 hours subsidized power to the people of the State as well as to every household in the remotest corner of the State, stated Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, while speaking on the occasion of the 24th General Conference of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited Powers Engineers Association at Sundernagar in district Mandi today.
He said that subsidized domestic energy to consumers amounting to Rs 388 crore was being provided to the people of the State, adding that the Government has decided that the power producers would not be required to take no objection certificate from the Irrigation and Public Health Department, PWD, Revenue and Fisheries for setting up hydro projects in the State. He said that this was being done to promote the entrepreneurs to invest in Hydel sector in the State. He said that to promote the private participation in hydel generation sector, five new projects were given to HPSEB Ltd for further allotment to private bidders and the techno-economic clearance for three such projects have been accorded by the Government.
The power engineers should come forward to accept new challenges and continue to work with devotion and dedication so as to contribute in making Himachal a pioneer state in the field of power distribution and production, he asserted. “I want to see HPSEB emerging as a strong and economically vibrant power utility to deliver better service to the people of the State and I assure that my Government would always be there to meet out the genuine demands of the board” said the Chief Minister. He said that Himachal Pradesh had been blessed with 27,432 MW hydel potential and was able to harness 8432 MW of hydro potential in the State and was targeting to exploit 2000 MW of power potential in this fiscal.
Virbhadra Singh said that HPSEB Ltd. have completed targets under ‘Rajeev Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna’ and ‘Restricted Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme’. He said that the 10 MW Ghanvi-II in Shimla district has started generating power and 100 MW Uhl project in Joginder in district Mandi was in the final stage of execution. Both the projects were being commissioned by HPSEB ltd.
The Chief Minister said that the Board is also executing capital expenditure works amounting to Rs 440 crore per annum for improving voltage supplies and to manage increasing load in rural and industrial areas. “I am happy to learn that losses of the Board has been brought down to 14.5% and I hope that the Board will initiate measures to reduce it further to improve the Boards income and functioning” said the Chief Minister.
Virbhadra Singh said that for evacuation of power, the Government was considering to set up 220 KV electricity sub-station at Mandhala in Baddi and 132 KV sub-station at Gaura in district Solan has been recently energized, which would not only improve the reliability of electricity supply in Solan area but would also help in lifting adequate water supply for the people of the town.
Chief Minister said that the Government has allocated the Government share of equity power in Nathpa Jhakri to HPSEB to meet the necessary requirement of the Board and to increase its income. He said that the State Government was committed to take all possible measures to improve the financial health of HPSEB limited. He also advised the Board to take corrective steps to curb the unnecessary expenditure and try to fill functional posts as per the requirement in the fields and professional posts. The pattern of field staff has to be changed and it must be ensured that sufficient numbers of employees are deployed all over the State. He advised them to explore more resources of income generation.
He announced for restoration of one post of Chief Engineer (system Planning).
Chief Minister said that the State was not getting its due share from BBMB which was a major power producer in the State distributing power supply to other States. Many people mainly Bhakra oustees were not rehabilitated till date and were offered land in Rajasthan, Haryana and elsewhere”, he said. The BBMB was withholding the share of the State despite the State has won the case pertaining to its share in the Supreme Court. It is a right-full claim that Himachal Pradesh be a part of BBMB share and we will not accept the step-motherly treatment, he asserted.
He said that engineers were the backbone of the Board and the Government has taken numerous decisions to benefit its employees, During last more than 20 months of its regime as many as 24 Assistant Engineers (electrical) have been appointed besides around 25 more such engineers were being appointed soon.
The Chief Minister directed the Board to fill all the functional posts in the board in a phased manner so that the efficiency of the Board could be enhanced. He said that the Government was also providing timely promotion to the employees of the Board and had also created fresh avenues of promotion to them. He said that about 895 posts of different categories have been created in the Board.
He also released the souvenir on the occasion.
MPP & Power Minister, Sujan Singh Pathania while speaking on the occasion said that the rapid development in power sector has taken place and initially in the year 1971 where there were only 3279 electrified villages, today the State has achieved cent percent electrification target which was a stupendous achievement. He said that a vast network of transmission and distribution lines had been laid in the
State. Initially, it was 8800 kilometers in 1972, and now the length of these lines was 92,869 kilometers. Besides, the energy consumption has also undergone a tremendous growth which stands as one thousand and seventy two units as of date. He said that the Government was allowing preferential allotment of up to 5 MW projects to the bonafide residents of Himachal Pradesh.
Sohan Lal, Chief Parliamentary Secretary also spoke on the occasion.
Earlier, Er Ram Parkash General Secretary of the Association welcomed the Chief Minister and other dignitaries present on the occasion and detailed various demands of the Association.
Health and Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, Excise and Taxation Minister Parkash Chaudhary, District Congress President Puran Chand, Deputy Commissioner Mandi Sandeep Kadam, Superintending of Police Mohit Chawla, Managing Director HPSEB Ltd Er. P.C. Negi, Director Finance and Administration Akshay Sood, President of the Association Er Rajesh and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
CM Visits Engineering College site at Sundernagar
Later, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh visited the construction site of Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College at Sundernagar.
He directed the authorities to ensure proper architecture of the College building. He also directed them to make adequate provision of playground and other basic infrastructure in the College campus.
Shimla-Himachal Pradesh Government employees working in different departments before January 3, 2022, would be given a higher scale at par with other employees on completion of two years tenure of regular service. A higher pay scale was also announced for the Junior Office Assistants (IT) on completion of two years of regular service.
Chief Minister Jairam Thakur made these announcements during the Karamchari Maha Sammelan of the Himachal Pradesh Non-Gazetted Employees Federation at the hotel Peterhof on Sunday.
He appreciated the role played by the employee especially frontline workers in the battle against the pandemic.
He said most of the government employees in the state have been given revised pay scales and on average, every employee has got the benefit of a 12 to 15 percent salary hike. There has also been an increase in the pension of about 1.50 lakh pensioners of the state. The financial benefits of Rs. 7801 crore have been given to state government employees and pensioners from the year 2018 to 2022. The pensioners who retired before 2016 are getting the benefit of a 15 to 20 percent increase in the pension while around 40 thousand pensioners who retired after 2016 would be benefitted soon, he said.
He said the daily wages were Rs. 210 in the year 2017 which has been increased by the present state government to Rs. 350. Similarly, 12 per cent interim relief annually has been provided to government employees and pensioners during the present government’s tenure. He said the Himachal government has provided Dearness Allowance to its employees and pensioners on the lines of Punjab and Central governments from the due date. The Punjab government has given only 5 percent interim relief to the employees while the Himachal government has provided 21 percent interim relief to its employees.
“Out of the total interim relief amount given to the employees and pensioners amounting to about Rs. 6500 crore, Rs. 3500 crore has been paid during the tenure of our government” added the Chief Minister.
He said that the state government has increased the government contribution for NPS employees from 10 percent to 14 percent benefitting more than one lakh employees. The NPS employees are being given the benefits of retirement and death gratuity at par with employees falling under the old pension scheme. The government has also increased the upper limit of death gratuity from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.
The Chief Minister said the state government has also increased the honorarium of para-workers working in various departments. The salary of outsource workers has been hiked by Rs 1,500 per month.
Non-Gazetted Employees Federation President Ashwani Thakur thanked the Chief Minister for providing various financial and other benefits to different categories of government employees.
New Delhi-The Centre has issued a notification to the States informing that the provisions of the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005 will not be invoked in the country after March 31. The Union Health Ministry said that the use of face masks and following hand hygiene will continue.
It implies that most of the Covid-related rules and restrictions would end.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued the notification which said that the decision was taken following the overall improvement in the situation and the preparedness of the government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, local authorities and State police can still invoke fines and criminal cases against persons violating COVID-19 norms under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a senior government official said.
The DM Act was invoked on March 24, 2020, due to the pandemic
“Over the last seven weeks or so there has been a steep decline in the number of cases. The total caseload in the country stands at 23,913 only and the daily positivity rate has declined to 0.28%. It is also worth mentioning that with the combined efforts, a total of 181.56 Cr vaccine doses have been administered,” the notification said.
“I would like to mention that in view of the nature of the disease, we still need to remain watchful of the situation. Wherever any surge in the number of cases is observed, the States/UTs may consider taking prompt and proactive action at a local level, as advised by MoHFW (Health Ministry) from time to time,” the notification said.
The Indian government had issued various guidelines and measures for the first time on March 24, 2020, under the Disaster Management Act to curb the COVID-19 situation in the country, which have been modified several times thereafter.
India currently has 23,087 active COVID-19 cases and recorded 1,778 new cases and 62 deaths in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate has also declined to 0.28%.
Shimla-A meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet was held on March 20, 2022, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The excise policy for the financial year 2022-23 was approved. Approval was also given for the renewal of retail excise vends in the state for the financial year 2022-23 at the renewal fees of 4% of the value of unit/vend.
The State Government said that wants to enhance the government revenue and curb the smuggling of country liquor from the neighbouring states by a reduction in its price.
The brands of Country Liquor will be cheaper as license fees have been reduced. This will help in providing good quality liquor at a cheaper rate to the consumers.
In the new excise policy, the 15% fixed quota of country liquor for manufacturers and bottlers to be supplied to the retail licensees has been abolished. According to the government, this step will give the retail licensees to lift their quota from the suppliers of their choice and further assure the supply of good quality country liquor at competitive prices. The MRP of country liquor will be cheaper by 16% of the existing price.
In this year’s policy, the Gaudhan Vikas Nidhi Fund has been enhanced by Re.1/- from the existing Rs.1.50 to Rs.2.50.
The fixed annual license fee of Bars has been rationalized by abolishing the area-specific slabs of license fee. Now throughout the State, there will be uniform license slabs based upon the room capacity in hotels.
Rates of the annual fixed license fee of Bars in the tribal areas has been reduced considerably.
Further, all the above stakeholders will have to install CCTV cameras at their establishments as it was made mandatory for them.
Wholesale vends and retail vends, the penalty provisions under the H.P. Excise Act, 2011 have been made more stringent.
An end to end online Excise Administration System would be established in Himachal Pradesh, the government said.
HP Government estimates a collection of Rs 2131 crore revenue during the year, which will be Rs. 264 crores higher than the financial year 2021-22 – growth of 14% in state excise revenues.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to amend Himachal Pradesh Disaster Relief Manual-2012 to include deaths due to biting of honey bees, hornet and wasps, accidental drowning and deaths due to accidents of vehicles (including land, water and air) under this Manual.
The Cabinet gave its approval for filling up 11 posts of ‘A’ Class Tehsildar in Revenue Department through direct recruitment on regular basis through Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.
HP State Toll Policy 2022-23
The HP Cabinet also gave its nod to HP State Toll Policy for the year 2022-23 which envisages auction cum tender for all the toll barriers in the State. During the year 2021-22, toll revenue has registered a growth of 20 percent of the previous year’s revenue.
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