Decision taken by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday has given a reason of relief to the meritorious students and pensioners. As the Cabinet has approved amendments to the Mukhya Mantri Medhavi Vidyarthi Yojana (Chief Minister Meritorious Student Scheme) and increase in dearness relief to the pensioners/family pensioners.

A meeting of the Cabinet was held in Mantralaya under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. According to the amendment, students who have got the benefit of the scheme once and even if the income limit is more than Rs 6 lakh, then they will be eligible for the benefit of the scheme till the completion of the course.

Also, students who have secured place in first 15 per cent the centralised common merit list of the State in the second year of engineering and pharmacy courses through ‘lateral entry’ and the students who pass in 10th and 12th examination of the Board of Secondary Education with 70 per cent or CBSE/ICSE with 85 per cent and if they take admission in the engineering and pharmacy courses of the institutions included in the order, then such students will be eligible for the scheme. Such students will not be bound by JEE Mains rank for admission to engineering courses.

The Cabinet has ratified the order issued on August 18, to hike the rate of dearness allowance and relief payable to Government servants and pensioners in the seventh pay scale by 3 per cent from August 1, 2022 (payment month September, 2022) to 34 per cent and the dearness allowance of Government servants of State Government undertakings, corporations, boards and aided institutions working on deputation in the State Government on a proportionate basis in the fourth and fifth pay scales. With the increase of 3 per cent in the dearness allowance payable to the employees, an additional estimated expenditure burden of Rs 625 crore is likely in this financial year. In the event of 3 per cent increase in dearness relief to the pensioners/family pensioners, in the event of obtaining consent from the Chhattisgarh government, an additional estimated expenditure burden of Rs 304 crore is likely in this financial year.

As a result of increase in dearness relief to the pensioners/family pensioners of the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000, the expenditure is borne by the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the Government of Chhattisgarh in the prescribed ratio. After obtaining the consent of the Chhattisgarh Government, the Finance Department was authorised to issue the order of dearness relief.

Approval to consumer charges collection: The Cabinet has given approval to collect the consumer charges in the pre-constructed 3 routes Satna Maihar-Umaria road and Ghansaur Mandla road under the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation after the completion date of the concession agreement and the Sehore Ichhawar Kosmi Nasrullaganj road after completion of construction in the consumer fee scheme.

Approval to take contract/outsourced services: For speedy implementation of the schemes run by the Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation, it has been decided by the Council of Ministers to speed up the recruitment process of human resource and easy availability of IT experts skilled in new technologies (COE, PeMTS, MPSSDI, CPCT, Email-PMU, TCU, SDC, Security Audit Lab) services can be taken from contract or outsource by converting the sanctioned posts in the projects.

Disposal of assets: After depositing 100 per cent of the highest tender amount of Rs 6.66 crore for disposal of plant and machinery set up on the assets of the Co-operative Department’s Dalda Factory in Churhat of Sidhi district, as scrap, the Council of Ministers decided to get the sale contract proceedings executed by the Joint Commissioner Co-operative, the liquidator of the State Oilseed Producer Co-operative Federation.

Some other decisions include- Approval for asphaltised road from Bharatpur (Bhaisraha) to Govindgarh with an amount of over 178 crores. The project will be done by MP Road Development Corporation.

The Cabinet gave its approval for the establishment and operation of Motor Driving Training and Research Institute (MDTRI) in Datia district. As non-recurring expenditure of the institute Rs 30 crore will be given for establishment and operation and Rs 22 lakh for the purchase of necessary equipment, Rs 90 lakh in the first year for the purchase of one-third of the vehicles proposed for the institute and the remaining amount of one crore 80 lakh rupees will be given in the next 4 years. Among the other decisions, Niwari district will have office of the District Registrar.