Two-day special Assembly session from February 24

The state government will convene a special session of the Vidhan Sabha on February 24 and 25. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann. The Cabinet meeting was held after a gap of four months.

Though the government claimed that the session was being convened to get certain important, time-barred legislations passed, sources said it was being done to meet the constitutional requirement of holding a session within six months of the previous one. The six-month period after the last session ends on March 3. The Budget session is likely to be convened in mid-March.

At the meeting, the Cabinet approved the creation of 3,000 jobs in the government sector. It also gave nod to the waiver of stamp duty, registration fee and other additional charges for the transfer of land to special purpose vehicle (SPV) “NICDC Punjab Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited” for the integrated manufacturing cluster being developed as part of the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor.

The project aims at serving as a catalyst for local commerce and creating an environment conducive to investment. The project will generate employment for about 32,724 persons in the industrial and 14,880 in non-industrial sectors.

The Cabinet also increased the financial assistance given to acid attack victims from Rs 8,000 per month to Rs 10,000 per month.

Speaking after the meeting, Finance Minister Harpal Cheema said the decision to land the second plane of deportees from the US at Amritsar again on February 15 reeked of the bias the BJP-led Centre had against Punjab.

“Maximum deportees are from Haryana and Gujarat and very few from Punjab. Our government will raise this issue,” he said.