The Madhya Pradesh BJP government has approved 850 posts for a ‘Special Auxiliary Force’ to counter Naxalites in the Naxal-affected districts of Balaghat, Mandla, and Dindori in the state.

The decision was taken at the state Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav at the State Secretariat in Bhopal on Tuesday.

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The posts for the Special Auxiliary Force have been sanctioned for a period of one year.

The Cabinet also took the decision to exclude the Nazul land of Pachmarhi town from the boundary of the sanctuary.

According to state government officials, the Nazul area of Pachmarhi town, measuring 395.931 hectares and currently under the administrative control of the Special Area Development Authority (SADA), will be excluded from the boundary of the Pachmarhi sanctuary. Earlier, through a notification dated 22 December 2017, 11 villages located on the perimeter of the Pachmarhi sanctuary were excluded from the sanctuary, and some villages were kept within an enclosure, officials added.

The Cabinet approved an additional grant of Rs 50 lakh for medal-winning athletes in the Paralympics. To implement Chief Minister Dr Yadav’s announcement, bronze medal winners at the 2024 Paralympics will receive an additional amount of Rs 50 lakh, raising the total honorarium to Rs 1 crore.

The Chief Minister had announced an honorarium of Rs 1 crore for Paralympic athletes Rubina Francis and Kapil Parmar in recognition of their excellent performance at the Paralympic Games. Held in Paris, France, from 28 August to 8 September 2024, the Paralympic Games saw Rubina Francis from MP win a bronze medal in shooting, while Kapil Parmar secured a bronze medal in blind judo.

The Cabinet approved the formation of a ‘State Centralised Pension Processing Cell’ for the resolution of pension cases. The State Centralised Pension Processing Cell will be authorised for the entire process related to the resolution of pension cases.

For the convenience of divisional and district-level offices and retired government employees, existing divisional and district pension offices will be temporarily maintained as Pension Resolution Centres for 2 years with a limited structure.