After a gap of 43 years, the ‘Queen of Hills’, Shimla will finally get a development plan to meet the developmental needs of the capital city as in the past efforts were made to formulate a plan but no concrete steps were taken for the same.

The decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

A state government official said the Cabinet gave its approval to the Development Plan for Shimla Planning Area after over 43 years as till now interim development plan was in force.

The Cabinet had decided to provide state government guarantee enabling the HP Road Transport Corporation to pick up Rs 110 crore loan from banks at competitive rates for paying pending liabilities of death cum retirement gratuity and leave encashment of its retirees.

It gave its approval to enhance the honorarium of elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions.  The honorarium of Chairman Zila Parishad would be Rs 15,000 instead of Rs 12,500, Vice Chairman Rs 10,000 instead of Rs 8,000, Members Rs 6,000 in place of Rs 5,000 per month whereas honorarium of Chairman  Panchayat Samiti would be Rs 9,000 instead of Rs 7,000, Vice Chairman Rs 6,500 instead of Rs 5,000 and Member Rs 5,500 in place of Rs. 4500 per month. Similarly, the honorarium of Pradhan Gram Panchayat would be Rs 5,500 in place of Rs 4,500, Up Pradhan Rs 3,500 instead of Rs 3,000 and Member would get Rs 600 per month instead of Rs 500.

The Cabinet decided to relax the condition of possession of at least 5 kanal agricultural land for registering the tractors purchased for agriculture purposes under Custom Hiring Centre Scheme under the centrally sponsored Sub Mission on Agriculture Mechanization.

The Cabinet gave its approval to the proposal to amend the Development Plan for Solan plan area.

The Cabinet decided to provide essentiality and feasibility certificate/NOC for increasing B.Sc Para Medical Technology Seats (3 years degree course) in Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College Tanda in Kangra district from existing 26 seats to 54 seats.

The Cabinet gave its approval for promulgation of Himachal Pradesh Payment of Income Tax on Salaries and Allowances of Certain Categories Ordinance, 2022 from the current financial year.  Now the Income Tax shall be paid by the individual members i.e. Chief Minister, Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and MLAs.

It also gave its ex post facto approval for premium rates of Rs 1,000 or Rs 365 for three years under Mukhya Mantri HIMCARE Yojna and also enhancing its validity period for three years. It also decided that registration of new cards under this scheme would be carried out throughout the year.