Punjab Cabinet gives approval to provide free LPG connections to BPL families missed in 2011 SECC

The Punjab Cabinet on Thursday gave its approval to provide free LPG connections to those BPL families, who were missed in the 2011 Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) on the lines of Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana.

A decision to this effect was taken this evening in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at the Chief Minister’s Office here, a official spokesperson said.

It was informed that the State Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department has an E-PDS portal and the details of beneficiaries—under Household Priority and Antodaya Yojana—has been uploaded.

Aadhaar numbers of the above beneficiaries have been seeded at the portal and the list has been deduplicated with LPG Consumers Data provided by public sector oil companies to weed out identified LPG consumers from this list, the spokesperson said.

The Cabinet also approved to levy 5.05 per cent VAT on sales of goods, except automobiles, purchased from within Punjab and meant for sale to serving and retired police personnel.

A similar concession is already being extended to serving BSF personnel, the spokesperson said. This step toward the welfare of the Punjab police force would benefit nearly 80,000 working and retired personnel including their families.

It was informed that presently the rate of tax on all sales made at the BSF canteen at Jalandhar is fixed at 5.05 per cent.

In another decision to provide relief to families of Home Guard Volunteers, the Cabinet also gave nod to give jobs to the next of kin of those who died on duty in the last 10 years on compassionate grounds.

However, the decision will only benefit dependents of those Home Guard Volunteers who died after January 1, 2007. The Cabinet has decided to recruit 50 sub-inspectors and 1,379 constables.

The decision was taken after taking the posts out of the purview of the Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board in the office of the Police Commissionerate Ludhiana and Amritsar besides SAS Nagar in Mohali district.

It approved to provide two armed personnel each to the Executive Magistrates and the civil personnel posted in the Enforcement Wing.

On the request of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), the Cabinet approved Rs 10 crore to set up a Multimedia Centre for Sikh studies at Gurdwara Sri Rakabganj Sahib to promote the philosophy of Guru Gobind Singh. The funds were released under the 350^th Birth Anniversary celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh.