The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to formulate a white paper on the financial position of the state. A decision to this effect was taken here on Wednesday in a cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
During the meeting, a decision was taken to constitute a cabinet sub committee comprising Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri as Chairman and Agriculture Minister Prof. Chander Kumar and, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh as members to formulate a white paper.
At the meeting, it was decided to provide Rs 1,500 per month to all the eligible women of Spiti Valley including Chhomos/nuns from the age of 18 years and above as Indira Gandhi Mahila Samman Nidhi and introduce e-stamping in the State for the collection of stamp duty to promote ease of doing business.
The government will stop printing physical stamp papers with immediate effect and to authorise stamp vendors as authorized collection centres. It will continue with a dual system of stamps, that is physical stamp paper and e-stamp paper from 1 April, 2023 to 31 March, 2024, and after 1 April, 2024 physical stamp paper will be discontinued completely.
The Cabinet decided to give Rs 600 in lieu of school uniforms through DBT to all eligible students. It decided to amend Swaran Jayanti Energy Policy, 2021 to make the transfer of land for setting up Solar Power and New and Renewable Energy Projects on lease/purchase/acquisition basis, subject to the applicable provisions of the various Acts pertaining to the matter.
It also decided to increase the honorarium of Nambardars in the Revenue Department from Rs 3,200 to Rs 3,700 per month as per the budget announcement, which will benefit about 3177 Nambardars in the state.
The Cabinet gave its nod to increase the honorarium of revenue chowkidars/part-time workers from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 5,500 per month and it will benefit around 1950 revenue chowkidars/part-time workers. It also decided to increase the court fee rates from Rs 6 to Rs 20 for filing any application/petition in the Revenue Courts or applying attestation of affidavit or any other documents in civil courts other than high court.
The Cabinet decided to constitute the Atal Tunnel Planning Area and freezing of the Existing Land Use of the Atal Tunnel Planning Area which includes revenue villages of district Lahaul-Spiti. Certain Goods Carried by Roads (CGCR) tax on Tobacco in all forms including Pan Masala, Pan Chatney and preparations containing tobacco or tobacco substitutes from Rs. 3 per quintal to Rs. 4.50 per quintal will be increased.