Curfew to be Imposed in State from May 7 to 16

Shimla, May 5 – The meeting of the State Cabinet held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur reviewed the Covid-19 situation in the State and expressed concern over the sharp surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in the State. Thus, in order to break the virus chain, the Cabinet decided to impose Corona curfew in the whole State. All the government and private offices/ establishments would remain closed from 7 May, 2021 to midnight of 16 May, 2021. It was also decided that all essential services such as health, electricity, telecommunication, water supply, sanitation etc. would remain open.

The Cabinet decided that work would continue at civil work sites, horticultural/agricultural and other project sites. Educational institutions in the State would remain closed till 31 May, 2021. All government and private transport would ply at 50 percent of occupancy and inter-state transport would continue. Industrial establishments would work as per the guidelines issued by the State Government.

Keeping in view the sharp surge of covid-19 cases in the State, it was also decided in the meeting that the annual examination of 10th standard of Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education would stand cancelled. All the students would be promoted to 11th class by the Board as per the norms suggested by CBSE for its students for the 10th standard examination. It was also decided that 12th standard examination of Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education and annual examination of colleges would also remain suspended till further orders.

Keeping in view the important role the department of Excise and Taxation in handling work related to collection of the revenue, which form major part of revenue earned by the State and to properly administer and regulate, the various tax laws in the State, the Cabinet gave its nod to create a specialized and dedicated separate service in the State ‘H.P. Revenue (State Taxes and Excise) Services in place of existing posts of the officers in the department.

The Cabinet gave its approval to upgrade regional hospital Una as 300 bedded regional hospital along-with creation of 76 posts of different categories to ensure better health care facilities hospital to the people of the area.

The Cabinet decided to create a new Jal Shakti Circle at Dharampur in Mandi district along-with requisite posts to facilitate the people of the area.

It also gave its consent to open a new Jal Shakti Division at Thanakalan in Kutlehar Vidhan Sabha area of Una district. It gave nod to shift the existing staff and infrastructure in Jal Shakti Sub Division No. 2 Una to Basal for better administrative functioning of the Division.