The Himachal Pradesh government on Saturday decided to implement a law providing monetary compensation to victims of sexual assault. The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

A government official said monetary compensation would be implemented for women victims/survivors of sexual assault/other crimes-2018 who had suffered loss, injury as a result of the offence committed and thus required rehabilitation.

Under this scheme, the amount of compensation would be provided to the victims under Women Victims Compensation Fund as decided by the State Legal Services Authority or District legal Authority.

The compensation to the affected women to be provided ranges from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh depending on the gravity of the crime, he added. He said the Cabinet decided to create new Division and Sub-Division of Irrigation and Public Health Department at Chontra in Mandi district along with the creation and filling up of requisite posts.

It gave the approval to open one new Sub-Division and one new Section of Irrigation and Public Health Department at Shaat in Kullu district along with the creation and filling up of necessary posts. It gave its nod to extend the validity period of Letter of Intent (LOI) and licenses BWH-2 and D-2A for setting up of a distillery at village Bhangla, Tehsil Nalagarh, district Solan in favour of M/s Kala Amb Distillery and Brewery Pvt Ltd.

The Cabinet gave its approval to fill up 28 posts of Junior Office Assistant (IT) in the office of Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur on a contract basis. It decided to fill up four posts of Civil Judges in the establishment of HP High Court through direct recruitment from Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.

The Cabinet also gave its ex-post facto sanction to fill up eight posts of Block Development Officers in Rural Development Department through direct recruitment. It decided to create and fill up five posts of Associate Professors and one post of Junior Resident in Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar Government Medical College, Nahan, in district Sirmaur for the smooth functioning of the college.

The Cabinet decided to fill up eight posts of various categories in the Directorate of Energy through direct recruitment on a contract basis. The Cabinet also decided to declare Kotkhai Utsav of Shimla district, Mata Mansa Devi Mela of Dharampur in Solan district, and Lohri Mela of Gram Panchayat Piplu in Dharampur of Mandi district as District Level Fairs.