The Puducherry Cabinet has decided not to collect one-time non-refundable sewer connection fee of ₹5,000 from residents any more, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy has said.
In a post-Cabinet press briefing on Friday night, the Chief Minister said around 66,000 people had not taken sewer connections because of the decision to collect connection charges. Hence, the government decided not to collect sewer connection charges from residents. The decision would put an additional financial burden of ₹18 crore on the government, he added.
The Cabinet had decided to constitute Live Stock Development Board to aid and advise the government on measures to be adopted to improve the livelihoods of livestock farmers.
A decision was taken to set up a welfare board for unorganised workers. This would help 29,000 people working in the unorganised sector to get more welfare measures, he added.
The government had decided to implement Seventh Pay Commission recommendations to employees of the Town and Country Planning Department, the Chief Minister said.
A decision was taken to convert five private engineering colleges, which were closed due to lack of patronage to arts and science colleges.
The Local Administration Department had been asked to handover five overhead tanks under its control to the Public Works Department. The decision was taken following complaints of poor maintenance of these tanks by the LAD, the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister refused to answer a query on whether the Cabinet had made any decision on free Pongal gifts.
