*Orders setting up of Employees Welfare Fund
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 28: The State Administrative Council (SAC), which met under the chairmanship of Governor, N N Vohra today approved the framework to rationalize retention of facilities like Government accommodation, telephone and vehicles provided to the constitutional authorities, political and media-persons in the State.
As per the new Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs), the permissible period for retention of Government accommodation in case of expiry of the term/termination of appointment/relinquishing of office of constitutional dignitaries, Ministers/Legislators and others shall be one month. These authorities shall be required to surrender vehicles and official telephones within one week.
Further, allotments in respect of media persons granted under discretionary quota placed at the disposal of Minister, I/C Estates (the charge of Estates Department normally is held by the Chief Minister). Such allotments will be reviewed annually by the end of March every year and placed before the Chief Minister for his orders as regards the continuation or otherwise.
For political persons, former legislators and freedom fighters, allotments will be granted under the discretionary quota placed at the disposal of Minister I/C Estates (who is generally the Chief Minister) on the recommendations of a Committee headed by ADG Security. The other members will be DC Srinagar / Jammu, Director Estates and SSP Security Srinagar / Jammu. Such allotments shall also be subject to mandatory annual renewal which shall be done by the end of March every year.
In a case, due to any reason, including procedural delay, the Government accommodation is not vacated within the permissible period, the commercial rate in vogue shall be charged which shall be worked out annually by the PWD.
The need for this framework was necessitated by absence of guidelines to be followed in respect of constitutional authorities, Ministers/ Legislators, political persons, media persons and other persons who are provided accommodation under the discretionary quota.
Meanwhile, in a significant welfare measure, the State Administrative Council approved that the Cashless Medical Insurance facility, which presently covers only the officer cadre, should be extended to approximately 3.5 lakh non-gazetted employees of the State Government.
While approving the Scheme, the SAC noted the difficulties faced by the employees, particularly those at the lower ranks, in meeting large medical bills for critical care and the reimbursement system which at times takes years to settle claims. The SAC further noted that under the proposed scheme, an employee along with five members of his or her family, would be covered for an amount of Rs 5.00 lakh cashless treatment across well known hospitals within and outside the State.
The Scheme would cover about 20 lakh persons – comprising employees and their family members – which is a very significant percentage of the entire population of the State.
The SAC noted that the Stamp Duty and Service Tax of Rs 30 crore which would have accrued to the State Exchequer annually will be waived off with a view to reduce the burden of the premium payable by the employees. Further, for the non-gazetted employees, the annual premium of Rs 5403 would be allowed to be paid in 12 monthly instalments, which comes to Rs 450 per month. The medical reimbursement as admissible to employees at the rate of Rs 300 per month will continue to be paid. The employees would also be eligible to income tax rebate for the full amount of the premium paid by them.
The SAC was further informed that the required changes would be made in the Medical Attendance Rules to provide for reimbursement of any unforeseen type/ nature of illness which cannot be covered under this Scheme.
Considering the all round beneficial aspects of the Scheme, the SAC has directed that it should be rolled out urgently for non-gazetted employees and also explore to include other sections like the employees working in PSUs, Universities, Semi Governm-ental Organizations etc., if they also wish to avail the benefits of the Scheme.
The SAC further directed that the scheme be rolled out within one month by enrolling all non-gazetted employees in a hassle free manner.
In a related significant development, the SAC also directed the creation of the J&K Employees Welfare Fund with an initial corpus to be contributed by the Government from which the employees of the State could be extended support for various welfare purposes. The SAC directed that all the non-gazetted and gazetted employees, right from Class-IV to Chief Secretary, would pay a suitable monthly contribution towards this fund, at a graded scale.
The SAC directed that Guidelines/ Rules should be framed for the administration of this Fund, by the General Administration Department in consultation with the Finance Department.
Meanwhile, the SAC approved the implementation of Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) Programme in the State through Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a PSU under the Ministry of Power, Government of India.
The programme, earlier called Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP), will help in promoting energy efficiency culture across the state. The focus of this new initiative is to make the common citizen aware of the benefits of energy efficiency.
Under UJALA, EESL shall provide up to 5 LED lamps of 9W each to every registered domestic consumer in the State at a highly subsidized rate of Rs 20 per LED lamp which is sold in the market for Rs 250 to Rs 300. A pack of 5 lamps shall be sold for only Rs 100 to every registered domestic consumer. The balance amount of about Rs 77 per lamp shall be borne by the State Government as subsidy. 80 lakh LED bulbs are proposed to be distributed among about 16 lakh registered domestic consumers in the State.
This is expected to entail a subsidy of Rs 61.44 crore. Apart from the 5 subsidized LED lamps, the consumers shall be able to purchase more LED lamps from EESL, as per their requirement, at a cost much less than the obtaining price of LEDs in the market.
The distribution of 80 lakh LED bulbs in the State will help reduce peak demand in the State by about 250 MW and will save energy consumption by 260 million units of electricity translating into an annual saving of about Rs 130 cr.
It may be recalled that in a meeting held by Governor last month, it was decided that UJALA/DELP will be launched across the State from March 2016 in collaboration with EESL. It was also decided that Street lights in two Municipal Corporations of Jammu and Srinagar and other Municipalities across the State would be replaced with energy efficient smart LED lights with full metering and dedicated feeders/phase wires. It was further decided that EESL will undertake energy audit of Government offices starting from Civil Secretariat and implement use of energy efficient LED lighting in all Government buildings. With today’s approval, the realization of the goal of efficient use of electricity in the State has been put firmly on track.
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