Uttarakhand: Cabinet increases relief amount for disaster losses in Dharali, other areas

Uttarakhand Cabinet has decided to increase the relief amount for losses caused by the recent disaster in Dharali and other areas of the state, officials said.

The kin of those killed in the disaster will now get Rs 5 lakh as opposed to Rs 4 lakh earlier. The relief amount for pucca houses damaged in this disaster has also been increased to Rs 5 lakh, while for damaged kutcha houses, an amount of Rs 1 lakh was decided to be provided from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund in addition to the prescribed relief amount from the disaster fund.

Uttarakhand suffered many instances of floods, landslides, and flash floods due to heavy rains this year, claiming lives and leaving many people missing, besides damaging civil property and state infrastructure. For commercial buildings affected by the disaster, the relief amount will be provided on a case-by-case basis.

Additionally, the Cabinet on Wednesday gave its in-principle approval for the implementation of the 'Devbhoomi Family Scheme' in the state. Under the scheme, a detailed database of families residing in Uttarakhand will be created, and they will be provided with unique family identification numbers. Following this, the families will be linked to the family ID, enabling them to receive benefits from government schemes.

Furthermore, beneficiary families will be able to know about all the schemes they are eligible for, and will also be able to check how many of the schemes they have availed.

In the meeting, it was decided to constitute a Cabinet Committee to consider the implementation of the Uttarakhand High Court's order for the regularisation of daily wage, contract, part-time and ad-hoc employees and to consider the cut-off date for the future.

The Cabinet considered the issue of providing minimum wages and dearness allowance to the employees of the Uttarakhand Ex-Servicemen Welfare Corporation (UPNL) in accordance with the High Court's order and subsequently discussed all related issues and consulted with relevant stakeholders. The Cabinet decided to constitute a subcommittee to discuss and make a decision. The subcommittee will complete this process within a two-month timeframe.

In another decision, the State Cabinet also approved a proposal to make necessary amendments to the Memorandum of Association (MOA) and Articles of Association (AOA) of UPNL to provide employment opportunities abroad to ex-servicemen, their dependents, and the youth of the state through UPNL.