Chhattisgarh Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel at his official residence in State Capital on Friday, has decided to give the benefit of the old pension scheme to the officers and employees of State despite the Central Government’s refusal to refund the amount of National Pension Scheme (NPS).

Talking to mediapersons at Chief Minister’s House after the Cabinet meeting, Agriculture Minister and Spokesman of state government Ravindra Choubey said that the state government employees will be considered as members of the Chhattisgarh General Provident Fund (GPF) from April 1, 2022, and the employee contribution deposited in the NPS account from November 1, 2004 or after that to March 31, 2022, and the dividend earned thereon, will be paid to the government employee under the NPS rules. Employees will be eligible for the old pension scheme, only after depositing the contribution of the state government and the dividend earned thereon. For this, the government employees will have to select the option of either continuing under NPS or receiving the benefit of the old pension scheme in a notarised affidavit. This option will be final and irrevocable, Choubey said.

The share deposited by the government in the NPS account from November 1, 2004 to March 31, 2022 and the dividend received thereon will have to be deposited in the government’s account if the government employee opts for the old pension scheme. The state government servants appointed on and after April 1, 2022 will compulsorily be members of the old pension scheme, he added.

The Cabinet has decided to start a special scheme for the renovation of school buildings. Under this scheme, a total of Rs 780 crore will be spent on the renovation of schools, said the Agriculture Minister.

Agriculture Minister Choubey said that the draft of the Chhattisgarh Gambling (Prohibition) Bill-2022 was approved in the Cabinet meeting in order to check online gambling in State and the bill will be tabled in the winter session of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly. Decision was taken regarding valuation of assets under Chhattisgarh Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College Durg (Acquisition) Act 2021. Assets of Chhattisgarh Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College Durg have been valued at around Rs 130 crore. Now, the amount will be paid as on the ratio of 1.15, Choubey said. In order to attract investors in Nava Raipur, Atal Nagar, infrastructure development fee has been revised to determine the lease premium of plots on the basis of area category within the sector. The Cabinet has decided to reduce the present infrastructure development fee from Rs 500 per square meter to Rs 100 per square meter for plot area of more than 50 acres, he added. In order to improve the environment through commercial tree plantation and to boost the income of farmers, the Cabinet has decided to commence Mukhyamantri Vriksha Sampada Yojana in State. Under this scheme, a target has been set to plant 15 crore saplings of clonal Eucalyptus, tissue culture teak and bamboo, Millia Dubia as well as the saplings of other economically beneficial species on nearly 1,80,000 thousand acres in a duration of five years at the rate of 36,000 acres per year.

Government, semi-government, autonomous institutions of the government, private educational institutions, private trusts, nongovernment institutions, panchayats and lease land holders who want to do plantation on their land will be able to take advantage of this scheme. The report of judicial inquiry commission into the incident of the death of Dantewada MLA Bhima Mandavi was presented in the cabinet meeting. The Cabinet approved the report and it will now be tabled in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly, he said. Discussion was held in the meeting regarding the implementation of the Millet Mission programme in the state. Joint initiative will be taken by the departments of Agriculture, Forest, Cooperative, Panchayat and Rural Development, School Education, Scheduled Caste and Tribe Development, Food, Women and Child Development, Rural Industries, Culture, Commerce and Industry, Tourism, Public Relations, Home and Jail, Commercial Tax and Health and Family Welfare. Proceedings of the 23rd meeting of the Central Regional Council held in Bhopal on August 22, 2022 and the new agenda point for the upcoming meeting of the Standing Committee of the Central Regional Council were discussed and Chief Minister was authorized to finalize the agenda point for the upcoming meeting. The Cabinet has also decided to constitute district-level agglomeration and district-level committee in 5 new districts for monitoring the cluster level implementation of the central and state sponsored schemes related to inter-departmental and inter-body. The amendment draft of Chhattisgarh Motor Vehicle Taxation Act 1991 for levy of lifetime tax from ambulance category vehicles was approved.

The draft of amendment in the Chhattisgarh Motor Vehicle Taxation Act 1991 and Rules 1991 was approved to increase the temporary registration tax on vehicles. The Cabinet has decided to distribute fortified rice in all the districts of the state to the ration card holders (except APL) under the state scheme. An amount of Rs 26.42 crore will be spent on this work. The Cabinet has decided to distribute free food grains on Antyodaya and priority ration cards issued under the Chhattisgarh Food and Nutrition Security Act 2012, similar to the distribution of free food grains from the month of January 2023 to December 2023 on the ration cards issued under the National Food Security Act 2013. The draft of amendment in Chhattisgarh Industrial Land and Management Rules 2015 was approved. The draft of the Chhattisgarh Regularization of Unauthorized Development (Amendment) Bill-2022 was approved. Now, only nine colonizers will have to develop nine per cent for EWS and six per cent for LIG, Choubey added.