Sohra, Jan 10: Here are the decisions taken in the cabinet meeting held at Hotel Polo Orchid, Sohra, East Khasi Hills as released by CMO on Friday.
Launch of CM Assure
Cabinet has approved “CM ASSURE”, market intervention scheme for supporting farmers. The scheme will support small and marginal farmers, provide fixed price procurement during market price decline to prevent distress sales. This will be activated only during price drops, not an annual feature. This will be applicable to non-perishable commodities with longer shelf lives. The state government has budgeted a revolving corpus fund of Rs 100 crore while assistance of Rs 20 crore will be from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that multiple interventions are being made by the state government to support farmers. The CM Assure scheme will aid farmers in distress and government will procure the non-perishable produces like broomstick, areca nut, etc and through the marketing board, they will be resold. He also said through this programme, during distress in the market, the farmers will get the support, and hence the government has come up with this mechanism to help the farmers.
Regularization of Adhoc Appointments
The cabinet has decided to regularise adhoc appointment of additional 850 employees, who were appointed prior to 2007. They were missed out in the list of 3000, which were prepared for regularisation in 2022, after the cabinet decided to regularise all adhoc appointments made in different departments, based on Supreme Court directive.
Amendment to Factories Rules
Regarding amendments to the Rule 98 of the Meghalaya Factories Rules, 1980 by incorporating of Rules 98A, the cabinet has approved The Meghalaya Factories (Amendment) Rules, 2025, which will substitute the existing sub- rule(2) of Rule 6 of the Principal Rules – “Every License granted or renewed under this chapter shall remain valid or be in force for a minimum period of one year to a maximum period of 10 years as applicable. The license so granted or renewed shall remain valid up to the end of the tenure”.
Chief Minister said the amendments have been done to facilitate ease of doing business. It was also decided to permit women to work in night shifts, provided all necessary safety measures are put in place, including installation of CCTVs, GPS, security Apps, etc.
Revision of Minimum Wages
Cabinet has approved revision of floor rates of minimum wages. The revised rates are: Unskilled workers – Rs. 525 per day, Semi-Skilled workers – Rs. 565 per day, Skilled workers – Rs. 605 per day and Highly Skilled – Rs. 654 per day.
Assured Career Progression Scheme (ACPS)
The cabinet has relaxed the provision of the ACPS with regards to provision for promotion. The scheme envisages placement in the next higher pay scale/grant of financial benefits to the government employee purely on personal basis and shall, therefore have no relevance to his seniority position. Neither shall it mount to functional/regular promotion nor require creation of new posts for the purpose. As such, there shall be no stepping up of pay for the senior employee on the ground that the junior employee in the cadre has got higher pay under the ACP scheme. The chief minister has said the cabinet has relaxed the provision so that no anomalies occur with regards to promotion and scale of pay.
Meghalaya Ceiling on Government Guarantees Bill
The cabinet has approved the Meghalaya Ceiling on Government Guarantees Bills 2025, based on which public sector undertakings, statutory boards, corporate and cooperative institutes can secure loans from commercial banks and financial institutions. The main objective of this is to regulate government guarantees.
Delegation of financial powers
Cabinet has approved delegation of financial powers to the Executive Engineer of the Fisheries Department, similar to other departments allowing them to take decision for small works.
Additional leave
Cabinet has approved additional leave of up to six months for government servants undergoing transplantation of human organs, over and above the existing provisions.
List of VIPs
The list of VIPs for the 26th of January Republic Day has been finalized.
Amendment to construction workers’ rules
The cabinet has approved amendment to the Meghalaya Building and other Construction Worker’s (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Rules, 2008. The amendment will ensure higher benefits to the registered labourers in the state with regards to medical, education of children, welfare pension, disability pension, family pension, etc.
Fiscal responsibility
Amendment to the Meghalaya Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2006, is in line with the recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission, wherein the normal borrowing ceiling of the state has been fixed to 3.5 percent of GSDP for the financial year 2024-25.
Purchase of land for New Shillong Water Supply scheme
The cabinet has approved the direct purchase of land through DRDA under the office of the Deputy Commissioner East Khasi Hills and West Jaintia Hills district respectively for implementation of New Shillong Water Supply Scheme Phase – I.
Pension commutation
The cabinet has repealed the Meghalaya Civil Service (Commutation of Pension) Rules, 1992 and has refined the process, which is easier. The new rule has been passed by the cabinet, which will ensure simpler and easier process for pensioners.
