LUCKNOW: Liquidation proceedings for 11 spinning and weaving mills in the cooperative sector of Uttar Pradesh were initiated on Friday following the go-ahead given by the State Cabinet. The Cabinet meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The liquidation of the 11 spinning mills was delayed as the matter was before the Bombay High Court. However, following the High Court verdict allowing the State Government to appoint official liquidators, the Cabinet approved the appointment of these officials.

These 11 cooperative spinning mills are at Maghar in Basti district, Etawah, Nagina in Bijnor district, Bulandshahr, Mahmudabad in Sitapur, Kampil, Baheri in Bareilly, Amroha in Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Mauaima in Allahabad, Bahadurganj in Ghazipur district and Fatehpur.

State Chief Secretary Naveen Chandra Bajpai told newspersons that barring the Etawah spinning mill whose case was in the Supreme Court, official liquidators would be appointed in the remaining 10 units. Mr Bajpai said the Director Handicrafts of the State Government would be the appointing authority.

The Chief Secretary said the spinning mills had a total liability of Rs. 438 crores inclusive of debentures, bonds and interest payment.

Besides, the Cabinet fixed a time frame for completing the land acquisition proceedings. Mr. Bajpai said the district magistrates would have to submit the land acquisition proposals to the Government within three months. The proposals would be examined by a committee headed by the principal secretary of the department.

More importantly, now compensation to the owners of the land will have to be paid within six months of the acquisition of land. According to the Chief Secretary, the delay in settling land acquisition led to escalation in project cost, besides creating legal complications.

Another Cabinet decision related to persons belonging to the general category and living below the poverty line also entitled to financial help for meeting medical expenses and marriage of their daughters. Till now, this facility was available to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In urban areas families whose annual income was below Rs 25,546 were categorised as BPL families. The income limit for qualifying in this category was Rs 19,884 per family per year.

Accordingly, the beneficiaries would be given Rs 10,000 for the marriage of their daughter. They would be entitled to an additional Rs 10,000 if they had another unmarried daughter. However, the amount will not exceed Rs 20,000 in a single year even if the beneficiaries had more than two daughters. For medical treatment they will get Rs 2,000 per year per patient.

Around 35,000 BPL persons of the general category will benefit from the scheme that would entail an expenditure of Rs 25 crore.

In addition, the students of the general category living below the poverty line will be eligible for post-matric scholarships and the Government will also meet the expenditure of entrance fees of these children.

It would entail an expenditure of Rs 148 crore with the Government spending Rs 4353 on each student per year. The move would benefit 3.5 lakh general students.

Meanwhile, the retirement age for non-teaching staff in Government-aided technical schools was raised from 58 years to 60. About 70 members of non-teaching staff in 19 aided technical schools stand to gain from the decision.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail