The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Friday approved the declaration of land acquisition and compensation for families affected by the expansion of the Kangra airport.

At a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the Cabinet also decided to provide the state share of capital costs for the construction of the Bulk Drug Park in the Haroli Assembly constituency of Una district and approved the calling of its tender.

The Cabinet also decided to grant child care leave for a maximum period of 730 days to a female government servant during her entire service for taking care of her children with a minimum disability of 40 per cent.

It accepted the Cabinet Sub-Committee’s recommendations on the pending results for post codes 903 and 939, related to the Junior Office Assistant, and assigned the task of declaring the final results for both post codes to HP Rajya Chayan Aayog, Hamirpur.

The Cabinet also approved the launch of ‘Himachal Pradesh State Award for School Teachers Scheme, 2024’ to recognise the outstanding services of the teachers.

Approval was also granted for creating a State Fund dedicated to the welfare of persons with disabilities. The Cabinet also recommended the premature release of 16 prisoners serving life sentences to the Governor.

The Cabinet also gave its approval to rationalise the provisions for Zero Electricity Bill for domestic consumers by restricting subsidy to ‘One Family One Meter’ and interlinking the electricity connections with Ration Cards (Aadhar seeded).

It decided to abolish the entire subsidy for the Chief Minister, former Chief Ministers, the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Ministers, former Ministers, MPs, ex-MPs, MLAs, ex-MLAs, Chairmen of Boards, Advisers, OSDs, all Class-I and Class 2 employees of the Government/Corporations/Boards, including IAS officers, IPS Officers, HPS Officers, HAS Officers, Forest Officers, Judicial Officers, etc., all government Class A and Class B contractors and all income tax payers.

The Cabinet gave its nod to bring additional areas of Retreat, Mashobra, Band Tukda Andri, Shiv Mandi Andri, Tal and Giri, DPF Khalini, BCS Mist Chamber, and Parimahal under the ambit of Green Area in the Shimla Development Plan.

It approved an amendment to the HP Motor Vehicles Rules, 1999, requiring the submission of an authorised receipt of the purchase of two Bureau of Indian Standards-certified protective headgears for registering two-wheelers in the state.

The Cabinet also decided to continue the MoU for operating flights between Shimla Dharamshala for all seven days in a week and to set up a ropeway from taxi parking to Baba Balak Nath Temple Deothsidh in Hamirpur district to facilitate the pilgrims.

A decision was also taken to purchase two PET scan machines for IGMC, Shimla, and Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, as well as one Spect Scan Machine for IGMC Shimla to facilitate the patients.