Punjab Cabinet approves recruitment against over 26,000 posts, doorstep delivery of ration

Chandigarh, May 2 (PTI) The Punjab Cabinet on Monday approved recruitment against over 26,000 posts in state government departments and also gave its nod to roll out a doorstep ration delivery scheme.

In another decision, the Cabinet gave approval to the disbursement of Rs 41.89 crore to cotton growers in Muktsar district.

The decisions were taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

A spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said the Cabinet approved recruitment against 26,454 posts belonging to Group A, B and C.

The decision is in line with Mann's promise of filling 25,000 vacancies after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in the state in March.

Major departments involved in this process will be home affairs, school education, health, power and technical education, said the spokesperson. The Cabinet also directed the departments to ensure transparent, fair and time-bound recruitment.

It has also been decided that interviews will not be conducted for Group C posts.

The Cabinet gave approval to the home delivery of wheat flour from October 1 as part of its commitment to deliver ration to people on their doorsteps, said the spokesperson.

Punjab has been divided into eight zones and the entire state will be covered in three phases. Any beneficiary, who wishes to physically collect his entitlement of wheat flour from a fair price shop (FPS) will have an option of "opt out" through a suitable IT intervention freely available to him.

The delivery cycle of distribution will now be changed from quarterly to monthly, said the spokesperson.

The home delivery service will introduce the concept of mobile fair price shops (MPS).

"The MPS will be a transport vehicle, preferably fitted with a GPS facility and cameras to live stream the handing over of wheat flour to the beneficiary. It will mandatorily have the facility of weighing scales to satisfy the customer about the weight of the wheat flour before it is delivered," said the spokesperson.

"All mandatory requirements of biometric verification, handing over of printed weight slip to the beneficiary will be provided by the MPS. An MPS shall enjoy a status similar to the fair price shop under the National Food Security Act," he said.

Portability between any MPS and FPS shall continue to be allowed.

Wherever wheat flour is being given to a beneficiary, the existing amount of Rs 2 per kg being charged from the beneficiary shall be collected by the MPS, said the spokesperson.

The MPS will preferably collect the amount through the digital payment mode.

Only where the beneficiary does not have access to digital payments, the MPS will collect the payment in cash, said the spokesperson.

A special purpose vehicle will be formed by Markfed to undertake all activities required to successfully offer the service of home delivery.

The Cabinet also decided that the state government will bear the entire cost of grinding wheat into flour even though the guidelines framed under the NFSA allowed the recovery of these grinding charges from the beneficiary.