Uttarakhand to transfer money to Class 10, 12, students to buy tablets

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami earlier promised to give tablets to Class 10, 12 students but later came around to transferring the money to buy the devices, reportedly in view of elections early next year.

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand cabinet on Friday evening cleared a proposal to deposit money in bank accounts of eligible Class 10 and Class 12 students through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to buy tablets. The scheme will cost the exchequer over ₹ 190 crore annually.

The Uttarakhand cabinet at its meeting chaired by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also cleared ₹5 crore for medical college in Kotdwar after minister Harak Singh Rawat walked out of the meeting in a huff over delays in its approval (PTI)

The cabinet also passed a proposal to publish bilingual books in Garhwali, Kumaoni, Jaunsari, Gurmukhi, Bangla language for Class 1 to Class 5, cabinet minister and government spokesperson Subodh Uniyal said after the cabinet meeting.

Uniyal said the cabinet chaired by chief minister Pushkar Sigh Dhami cleared 41 proposals.

The cabinet has approved freetransfer of 11.350 hectare of state land for the use of Army (119, Infantry Bridge Group) in village Gunji in Pithoragarh to the defence ministry. He said the cabinet also approved ₹ 5 crore for Kotdwar Medical College in the current financial year.

Uniyal said other proposals passed in the cabinet meeting included 3% additional dearness allowance to state employees. amendment in the Uttarakhand Electronic Media Advertisement Rules, 2015, amendment in the Uttarakhand Medical Education Rules 2021, approval for setting up a separate branch under horticulture department for maintenance in Raj Bhavan and chief minister’s residence, the high court in Nainital, Vidhan Sabha and Secretariat premises, revised Uttarakhand (Uttar Pradesh Narcotic Drugs Rules, 1986) Rules, 2021, establishment of a sports university in the state and transferring money to students of classes 1 to class 8 for purchase of shoes and bags.

The cabinet also approved Uttarakhand Ayurvedic Yoga and Naturopathy Assistant Services Rules, 2021, amendment in Rehabilitation Policy 2011 for rehabilitation of disaster affected families, Uttarakhand Sanskrit Education Rules, 2021, allotment of land for the proposed traffic town plan in Udham Singh Nagar’s Rudrapur, establishment of Vishwa Bharati Central University Campus at Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore Top in Nainital Ramgarh and reconstitution of the committee constituted to review the rates of water charges and sewerage charges for the consumers in the state.