Maha cabinet to have permanent sub-committee to decide payouts

The Maharashtra cabinet today decided to form a sub-committee on a permanent basis that will be empowered to take decisions on paying compensation for the losses due to natural calamities.

The sub-committee will be headed by the relief and rehabilitation minister. It will have finance, co-operation, rural development ministers as its members.

Secretaries of finance, agriculture, water supply and cleanliness, relief and rehabilitation departments will also be members of this committee.

The decision was taken at the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here today.

An official in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said having a permanent cabinet sub-committee will ensure that immediate compensation can be provided to natural calamities like cyclone, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, drought.

"The cabinet sub-committee will be empowered to take decisions regarding urgent compensation, relief and rehabilitation and will not need cabinet approval and sanction of the finance department," the official said adding that the administrative process will be streamlined.

The cabinet also decided to waive penalty on unauthorised residential constructions up to 600 sq ft in Mumbai.

For the unauthorised residential constructions between 601 and 1,000 sq ft, there will be penalty of 50 per cent of the property tax amount. Similarly, penalty on unauthorised residential constructions will be as per the prevailing market rate.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to hike the subsidy given to landless farm labourers under BPL from 50 per cent to 100 per cent under the Karmaveer Dadasaheb Gaikwad Sabalikaran and Swabhiman Yojana.

Under this scheme, a Scheduled Caste (SC) farm labourer can buy maximum four acres of non-irrigated land with 100 per cent subsidy for Rs 5 lakh per acres and 2 acres of irrigated land for Rs 8 lakh per acre.