The State government on Thursday decided to regularise the services of 23,249 daily wage employees serving in several departments and public sector undertakings.
A draft Bill has been prepared and it would be tabled in the next legislature session after getting the approval of the Chief Minister.
Briefing reporters on the decisions taken at the State Cabinet meeting here, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri said that 14,000 daily wage workers were in government departments and 9,249 in State public sector undertakings.
Those who were in service from 1984 and the others who joined service 10 years before April 10, 2006 were eligible for regularisation.
He said that persons concerned, including Umadevi and others, had approached the Supreme Court which ruled that the government should regularise their services.
The government had been incurring a monthly expenditure of Rs. 87 crore for their salaries, he said.
Mr. Kageri said that there were 12 proposals from educational institutions seeking sanction for private universities and a few Bills for giving approval to them were going to be tabled before the legislature.
Asked how several BJP leaders, including himself and Higher Education Minister Arvind Limbavali, who was heading the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat in the past, who had opposed privatisation, had now become party to such decisions, the Minister said that a debate on the issue was going on and that the matter would be looked into before giving approval.
Asked whether the government would assure that these universities would not deny seats to students emerging out of the CET system as some colleges had done after becoming deemed universities, Mr. Kageri said that the government would take all care to ensure that no injustice was done to such students.
Toll collection
The Cabinet decided to levy toll on 1,191 km of 10 roads developed under K-SHIP I and it [toll collection] would be in place for the next 10 years.
He said that various formalities would take about eight months to be completed after which toll collection will start. Tractors and such other vehicles used by commoners would be exempted from paying toll.
Investment
The Union government has sanctioned a National Investment Manufacturing Zone to be set up in Tumkur district. Karnataka is the seventh State to get this facility. Under the Global Investors Meet programme, this zone would get around Rs. 750 crore, he said. The Cabinet approved a proposal to sanction Rs. 7.50 crore for raising 75 lakh saplings to grow vitamin-rich vegetables, fruits and greens in Hyderabad Karnataka districts. This had been done to help people, especially children who were suffering from diseases such as mental disorders and anaemia due to vitamin deficiency.
