Chandigarh, Feb 21, 2023, IANS

Chandigarh, Feb 21 (IANS): The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday gave nod to the Policy for Welfare of Adhoc, Contractual, Daily Wages, Work Charged and Temporary employees, paving way for regularising the services of 14,417 employees.

A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by the Chief Minister here.

Divulging the details, a spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the services of 13,000 employees have already been regularised.

Under the regime of the earlier governments, various appointments to 'Group C' and 'Group D' level posts have been made on a contract or temporary basis.

Some of such employees have now put in a period of 10 years and more with the government and they have given their prime years of life in service of the state.

The government felt that now at this stage, to relieve them or to replace them in this capacity in service with another set of people will be unjustified and improper.

The employees who have worked on adhoc, contractual, daily wages, work charged or temporary basis for a continuous period of minimum 10 years till the issuance of present policy will be regularised.

The applicant must have the requisite qualification and experience for the post in terms of rules if any at the time of placement in the special cadre.

The Cabinet also gave green signal to Punjab State Adventure Tourism Policy for attracting private investment in the stale.

The policy provides a transparent mechanism for approval of adventure tourism projects which will be cleared only by an Empowered Committee chaired by the Chief Minister.

A single-window system and ease of inter-departmental coordination at various levels has been suitably incorporated in it.

It also gave nod to the Punjab State Water Tourism Policy which seeks to give a big boost for attracting private investment near water bodies in the state.