Shimla: Himachal Pradesh cabinet has decided to convene budget session of the assembly from Feburary 23. This will be last budget session of the Jai Ram Thakur led BJP government. There will be a total of 16 sittings of the House and state's budget for year 2022-23 will be presented March 4 by Chief Minister, who also holds finance portfolio.
The budget is expected to be populist inview state assembly elections by end of the year. The decision to convene session of the assembly was taken at meeting of the cabinet held on Monday. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur presided over.
The Cabinet decided also that all summer closing educational institutions from 9th to 12th standard would open from February 3, 2022, along with all other higher educational institutions.
The cabinet decided that all the coaching institutions and libraries would also remain open from February 3. All Government offices would remain open, as usual for six days in a week with 100 percent capacity. However, handicapped persons and pregnant women would still continue to work from home. It was also decided that all the gyms and clubs would be opened.
The cabinet decided that all social gatherings would be allowed with maximum 500 outdoor and 250 indoor with 50 percent of the capacity, subject to adherence of the Covid-19 safety protocols and covid appropriate behaviour.
Night curfew would remain in force as usual from 10 pm to 6 am and shops will open and close on normal times and langar would remain suspended till further orders. The Cabinet gave its nod to Himachal Pradesh Integrated Drug Prevention Policy to curb drug menace in the State. This policy aims at curbing the grievous problem of drug trafficking, substance abuse, drug cultivation, production and consumption prevalent in the State.
The decision is aimed to at strengthening inter-governmental and inter agency coordination under multi-literal cooperation mechanism by sharing seizure statistics/data, joint drug law enforcement operations and establishment of joint interrogation centre.