Cabinet Discusses Employees Unrest, LPG Crisis
Srinagar, Nov 07: The state cabinet which met at Jammu today with the chief minister, Omar Abdullah, in chair, considered several important issues of public and administrative interest. It was the first meeting of the cabinet in the winter capital after the reopening of the Civil Secretariat there.
The cabinet approved the promotion of senior Indian Administrative Service officer, Muhammad Iqbal Khanday (1978 batch), principal secretary (Finance) to the fixed scale of IAS (Rs, 80,000) w.e.f 2010. He has been designated as financial commissioner, Finance Department.
According to reports, the cabinet deliberated upon the demands of state employees and the cooking gas crisis. It was agreed government would keep the lines of communication with the employees through their associations and unions, including Joint Consultative Committee, and also seek further time to resolve their demands.
Taking note of the ongoing pen-down strike of the employees, the government is likely to invite the JCC leaders yet again for talks over their demands. The state government may have to resolve the demands in a phased manner out of its own resources.
The cabinet discussed the situation arising out of the cap on subsidized LPG cylinders and decided to take up the issue yet again with the government of India. The Petroleum ministry would be asked to extend the date beyond November 15 for completion of the registrations. The oil companies would be asked to ease the procedure for registration of new gas connections and to make the non-subsidized cylinders available to consumers without any hassle.
The cabinet accorded administrative approval for construction of the alternate bridge (double lane) next to Abdullah bridge at Rajouri at a cost of Rs 20 crore under the Special Task Force Program for Jammu Division.
The cabinet also accorded sanction to creation of one post of professor and one post of associate professor in the Department of Prosthodontics in Government Dental College and Hospital, Srinagar, in the pay scale of Rs 37400-67000+8700 and Rs.15600-39100+7600 respectively.
Meanwhile, commissioner / secretary, Social Welfare, Jeet Lal Gupta, has been given additional charge of Housing and Urban Development Department till its principal secretary, Suresh Kumar; currently abroad in connection with training, resumes charge, an official handout said.
Incidentally, the long-awaited promotion of Muhammad Iqbal Khandey as financial commissioner has come as a birthday gift for him eight days ahead of the occasion. Born on November 15, 1955 in South Kashmirs Kokernag area, Khandey is the senior most IAS officer from the state. (With inputs from KNS)
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