Chhattisgarh Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai at Mantralaya, Nava Raipur Atal Nagar on Tuesday, has decided to extend the period of selling agency contract with Metal Scrap Trading Corporation Limited (MSTC), a Government of India undertaking, for the next three years for transparent and systematic disposal of scrap and unusable materials accumulated in various departments, public sector undertakings, corporations, boards and local bodies of the state. The contract is effective from November 2019 and was to expire on May 31, 2026. Through MSTC’s the e-auction platform, buyers from across the country can purchase scrap material through competitive bidding, thereby ensuring transparency and better value for the state. This system has made the state’s scrap disposal process more streamlined, technology-driven, and revenue-driven. This decision eliminates the need for departments to conduct separate tendering and advertising processes, saving administrative time and resources, and improving cleanliness and space management within office premises. The Cabinet has also approved a proposal to bring the Chhattisgarh Staff Selection Board under the General Administration Department (GAD), Government of Chhattisgarh. For it, the “Chhattisgarh Government Business (Allocation) Rules” will be amended. It may be mentioned that after the implementation of the Chhattisgarh Staff Selection Board Act, 2026, the former Chhattisgarh Professional Examination Board has been merged into the new Staff Selection Board.

 

Furthermore, all its assets and liabilities have also been incorporated into the new board. In view of the extraordinary and unexpected increase in the prices of bitumen (asphalt) after 1 April 2026 in road construction works, the Cabinet has taken an important decision to provide limited and partial price relief (compensation) to the contracted contractors for the period from 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026 in the interest of the State and to maintain continuity in the construction works. This relief will be given only on the basis of a formula determined to mitigate the impact of the extraordinary increase in bitumen prices, and the escalation rules already provided in the contract for other construction components will remain in force. Due to global conditions and increase in the prices of petroleum products, asphalting works had started getting affected, which was feared to hamper the pace of road construction and maintenance works. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, has also issued similar relief instructions for National Highway projects. The State government’s objective is to ensure that road construction is not affected and that the pace of development work remains intact, so that the public can benefit from the road construction work on schedule.