U'Khand statehood agitationists to get 10 per cent quota in

A legislation granting 10 per cent reservation to statehood agitationists in government jobs will be introduced in the next session of Uttarakhand Assembly.
The decision was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Harish Rawat here, Chief Secretary N Ravishankar told reporters late last night.
The state cabinet also decided to regularise category-4 land and allocate a grant of Rs 23 crore to private sugar mills in the state to help them clear the arrears they owe to sugarcane growers, he said.
The policy for regularisation of category-4 land giving ownership rights to occupants of such land has also been laid down.

The ambit of waiver of levy on three acres of land has been extended bringing BPL people and Antyodaya yojana beneficiaries apart from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes under its purview, the chief secretary said briefing media persons about decisions taken at the meeting.
With former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna threatening to hold a rally in Sitarganj on February one in support of his demand for regularisation of category 4 and 1(b) land, the cabinet decision is being seen as a move to pacify him.

In a letter to Rawat recently, Bahuguna had threatened to stage a rally against his own party's government on February 15 if it did not act on regularising category 4 and 1(b) land in his constituency (Sitarganj).

The cabinet decided to bring in a legislation in the next session of the state assembly giving 10 per cent quota to statehood agitationists in government jobs.
The cabinet also gave its approval to preparing a data of statehood activists above 60 years of age to give them pension, the chief secretary said.
It was also decided not to reclaim approximately Rs 30 lakh distributed in excess as compensation among disaster-hit people by mistake.
The cabinet also decided to provide a grant of Rs 23.24 crore to private sugar mill owners to help them clear the dues they ow to sugarcane growers.