Himachal Pradesh budget to be presented on March 17

Shimla: The Budget Session of Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha is likely to be held from March 10 to 28 and the annual budget would be presented on March 17.

The state Cabinet in its meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday decided to recommend to the governor to convene the Budget Session from March 10 to 28, Industry Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan told media persons here.

A total of 15 sessions would be held and the chief minister would present the annual budget on March 17, Chauhan said.

The Cabinet also approved the declaration of pending results for 713 posts in seven categories, including junior engineer, market supervisor, fireman, clerks (Himachal Secretariat), lineman and steno-typist, he added.

Results of various examinations were withheld after the vigilance pointed out irregularities in examinations conducted by the HPSSC following alleged paper leak unearthed on December 23, 2022, when the vigilance arrested commission's senior assistant Uma Azad with solved question papers and Rs 2.5 lakh in cash.

The Cabinet also approved 60-day special maternity leave for government employees in the event of a stillbirth or the death of a child soon after birth, a statement issued here said.

The Cabinet decided to categorise all the 135 existing police stations into six categories based on the criteria of population, area, major crime, traffic, inter-state borders and flow of tourists. It was also decided that staff posting in police stations will be revised on the basis of their category to strengthen the field offices and ensure better services to people.

It also gave its nod to auction-cum-tender process for collecting entry tax for the financial year 2025-26, with an expected additional revenue of Rs 11.56 crore as compared to 2024-2025.

Additionally, the Cabinet also decided to implement the FASTag facility at all entry toll barriers in a phased manner. In the first phase, FASTag will be introduced at toll barriers in Garamaura (Bilaspur), Parwanoo (Main) and Tiara Bypass (Solan), Govindghat (Sirmaur), Kandwal (Nurpur), Mehatpur (Una), and Baddi (Solan).