No increase in the OPD charges and other fees in govt hospitals in this year.
Saturday, 01 January 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
In a major decision apparently aimed at the ensuing assembly elections the Uttarakhand government has hiked the old age and widow pensions in the state by Rs 200. A decision regarding this was taken in the meeting of the state cabinet on Friday. Informing about the cabinet decision, cabinet minister and state government spokesman Subodh Uniyal said that the beneficiaries of old age and widow pension schemes of the Social Welfare Department would now get a pension of Rs 1,400 per month. He added that now both husband and wife would be eligible to get the old age pension. At present either husband or wife can take this pension. In the state there are a total of 4,64,712 beneficiaries of old age pension while the number of beneficiaries of widow pension are 1,84,765. The state government spends a sum of Rs 329.66 crore on old age pension and Rs 129.71 crore on widow pension.
In another decision the state cabinet approved the proposal of not levying the mandatory 10 per cent surcharge in the OPD fee and other tests in the government hospitals of the state this year.
Uniyal said that the Deendayal Upadhyaya home stay scheme would now be operated through the Chief Minister’s Swarojgar portal. The cabinet also relaxed building by laws for Kedarnath in view of the less availability of the space by amending the Kedarnath Development Authority act. The state cabinet also approved the proposal to create the District Tourism Development Committee (DTDC) in every district. The committee would be headed by the district magistrates. The proposal to select a private investor in the Janaki Chatti to Yamunotri ropeway project was also approved by the cabinet.
Uniyal informed that the state cabinet also approved the proposal to set up a law institute in Narendranagar. The Savoy hotel of Mussoorie was given green signal to construct a rooftop helipad and the cabinet approved the proposal to increase the height of the building to 21.33 metres for this purpose. Uniyal said that the government college Principals can appoint guest teachers on the vacant posts on a monthly remuneration of Rs 35,000 per month. The cabinet also decided to recruit 214 Yoga instructors through an outsourcing agency. These instructors would be appointed in all the government colleges and in the inter colleges located in the block headquarters. The cabinet also decided to grant maternity to women guest teachers.
Uniyal further informed that the decision on the issue of grade pay of the police personnel and the demand of PRD employees for a minimum of 300 days of employment in a year was left on the chief minister.
