1. Home
  2. Gujarat government doles out sops ahead of Assembly polls

Gujarat government doles out sops ahead of Assembly polls

Agencies
October 19, 2017

Ahmedabad, Oct 19: Ahead of Assembly polls in Gujarat, the state government has announced a slew of sops for teachers, employees of municipalities and others.

The polls are due later this year.The government said "fixed-pay" teachers of government- aided secondary and higher secondary schools across the state would get a significant hike in their salaries.

Employees of 105 municipalities would now get salaries according to the provisions of the 7th Pay Commission.

The Gujarat government also raised the annual income cap from Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 2.50 lakh for the 'Ma-Vatsalya' scheme for free medical treatment of up to Rs 2 lakh for serious ailments.

"Till now, only people with an annual income of less than Rs 1.50 lakh were eligible for treatment of up to Rs 2 lakh at any of the government-approved hospitals. Now we have decided to raise this income limit to Rs 2.50 lakh, so that more people can benefit from the Ma-Vatsalya scheme," Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel told reporters in Gandhinagar yesterday.

Around 7,000 "fixed pay" teachers -- whose salaries are fixed for five years -- as well as administrative staff of government-aided secondary and higher secondary schools will be given pay hikes.

"We have decided to increase the monthly salary of 'fixed-pay' teachers of secondary schools from Rs 16,500 to Rs 25,000. Assistant teachers, who used to get Rs 10,500, will now get Rs 16,224.

Administrative assistants will now get Rs 19,950 from the current salary of Rs 11,500," Patel said.

A similar raise has been approved for teachers and administrative staff of higher secondary schools which are dependent on government grants, said Patel, who handles the finance portfolio.

Around 15,000 employees of municipalities will also get a pay hike.

Patel said the government had decided to give permission to 105 local bodies to pay salaries in accordance with the 7th Pay Commission.

"Out of the total 162 municipalities in the state, 105 are paying their employees as per the 6th Pay Commission. Considering their demand, we have decided to allow these 105 local bodies to pay as per the 7th Pay Commission. This will benefit around 15,000 employees," Patel said.

The Election Commission had last week announced the poll schedule for Himachal Pradesh but not for Gujarat, though the terms of both the Assemblies expire almost at the same time.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 2,2020

Geneva, Jul 2: The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated the overall number of coronavirus cases globally at 10,357,662, with 508,055 people having died from the disease.

The UN health agency said in the situation report published on late Wednesday that 163,939 new cases had been recorded in the past day, while further 4,188 patients had died.

Americas continue to lead the count with over 5.2 million cases, followed by Europe with more than 2.7 million.

The WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 14,2020

May 14: Customs officials on Wednesday intercepted China-bound consignments of raw material for masks, misdeclared as packing materials for pouches, in large quantities, a senior official said.

It has also seized multiple shipments containing 5.08 lakh masks, 57 litres of sanitiser and 952 PPE kits bound for the US, the UK and the UAE, the official said.

The export of such goods is prohibited by the government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"On the basis of specific intelligence, 2,480 kg of raw material for masks was intercepted by air cargo export, Delhi Customs. The goods were misdeclared as packing materials for pouches and were being illegally attempted to be smuggled/ exported to China," he said. 

These goods are prohibited for export as per the latest guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Foreign trade (DGFT), he said, adding that investigation into the case is under progress.

In another catch, the air cargo officers intercepted multiple shipments containing 5.08 lakh masks, 57 litres of sanitiser in 950 bottles and 952 PPE kits at the courier terminal in New Delhi. These were attempted to be smuggled or exported out of the country, the official said.

"These goods are also prohibited for export," he added. 

These items were being illegally exported to the United States, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. "No arrests have been made so far," the official said.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 1,2020

Washington, Jul 1: The United States has approved four coronavirus vaccine candidates for clinical trials, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) head Stephen Hahn told reporters.

"Four vaccines have been approved for moving into clinical trials... and another six are in the pipeline for us to review," Hahn said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

The US Administration launched in May Operation Warp Speed, a joint project of Health and Defense Departments, which aims to deliver 300 million doses of a vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021.

The country's top pandemics expert Anthony Fauci warned on Tuesday, however, that there is no certainty the United States will be able to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 that works and will be safe.

Data on vaccine effectiveness, he added, may be available in the winter or early next year.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.