Shimla, December 30:
The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, on Tuesday cleared a slew of decisions spanning health, education, rural development, power, dairy, employment and social welfare, giving a major administrative push at the year-end.
To strengthen the health sector, the Cabinet approved filling 53 posts of Assistant Professors and 121 teaching, non-teaching and paramedical posts across all state medical colleges. It also sanctioned the creation of 600 posts of Assistant Staff Nurses through the HP Rajya Chayan Aayog, Hamirpur. Faculty doctors with DM and MCh qualifications will now get an incentive of 20 per cent of basic pay.
In the Jal Shakti Vibhag, approval was accorded to fill 40 vacant posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) as job trainees, while 10 posts of Block Development Officer will be filled through direct recruitment in the Rural Development Department.
The Cabinet cleared the creation of a dedicated sub-cadre for CBSE schools with defined recruitment, training and performance norms in 100 identified schools.
It also expanded the ambit of Mukhya Mantri Sukh Aashray Yojna to include children studying in Tong-Len School, Dharamshala, children of parents with 70 per cent or more disability, and children with one deceased parent and the other having abandoned them.
A major urban development decision included approval to build a world-class township at Shitalpur on the Himachal–Chandigarh border.
The Cabinet also approved amendments to Rule-3 of the HP Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2017 to bring greater transparency and faster dispute redressal in the real estate sector.
The Skill Development Institution building of the Buildings and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board at Palkwah Khas in Una will now house the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).
The Cabinet also cleared the PEHEL project aimed at resilient livelihoods for Himalayan pastoralists, focusing on sustainable small ruminants, indigenous breed conservation, market linkages and ecological balance. A new Act will be introduced to ensure smooth movement of pastoralists and open forest land and meadows for Gaddi livestock.
In the dairy sector, approval was given to set up milk processing plants at Nahan, Nalagarh, Mohal and Rohru, a milk chilling centre at Jalari (Hamirpur), bulk milk cooler at Jhalera (Una) and similar facilities at Karsog and Pangi through MILKFED and NDDB.
The Cabinet also sanctioned a ₹60 crore cash credit limit for HP MILKFED for 2025-26 and 2026-27, along with opening a separate milk cess account to ensure timely payments to farmers.
The Cabinet adopted the Functional Equivalence Model (FEM), treating Assistant and Associate Professors in Applied Sciences and Humanities as functionally interchangeable across all five government engineering colleges, forming a single academic pool.
Approval was also accorded to establish the University of Multidisciplinary Institute of Innovation, Skill, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Research (MIISTER) at Ghumarwin, Bilaspur, on PPP mode to promote digital skills and entrepreneurship.
Environmental and land-use decisions included amendment of the HP Land Preservation Act, 1978, to regulate felling of dried chir trees affected by calamities, disease or insect attack, subject to competent approval.
The Cabinet revised the Rajiv Gandhi Laghu Dukandar Sukh Kalyan Yojna–Shahri, under which small shopkeepers with NPAs up to ₹2 lakh will get one-time settlement assistance up to ₹1 lakh, borne by the state government.
Other key approvals included shifting the headquarters of the HP State Commission for Backward Classes from Shimla to Dharamshala, setting up a drug de-addiction centre at Malot in Indora (Kangra), and granting relaxation for under-construction Lok Bhawans under the Mukhya Mantri Lok Bhawan Yojna.
In the power sector, the Cabinet amended the Swaran Jayanti Energy Policy-2021, extending relaxation on free power royalty to projects up to 25 MW where implementation agreements are already signed, except those with executed PPAs or already commissioned projects. It also approved re-allocation of equity power share in SJVNL projects—Nathpa Jhakri and Rampur—to the state government for further sale.
The Cabinet further cleared compassionate employment for 28 persons in the Education Department, approved modern commercial complexes at Mohal Mauja Panol Shahri and Auhar in Ghumarwin (Bilaspur), and sanctioned the Himachal Pradesh Disaster Risk Reduction and Preparedness Project with the French Development Agency with an outlay of ₹892 crore for five years.
Finally, approval was given for subsidy on purchase of 18–42 seater buses to be operated as stage carriage services under the Rajiv Gandhi Swarojgar Start Up Yojna, aimed at boosting self-employment in the transport sector.
