Bangalore :Law and Parliamentary affairs minister T B Jayachandra informed the media that the State cabinet had taken the following decisions at its meeting on Thursday.
Setting up of a Tree Park
The state cabinet had cleared a proposal to set up a tree park with around 20,000 trees in 2014-15 around Hennur Lake. Jayachandra said that the government wants to develop the locality as a botanical garden by planting more and more trees. “There are about 1,300 trees already planted. Another 20,000 trees will be planted this year at a cost of Rs 5 crore. Upon completion. the lake and surroundings would be the largest lung space for people from the northern part of Bangalore,” he said.
Mediclaim for govt staff
The cabinet has also cleared the budget announcement of ‘Jyothi Sanjeevini’—a cashless mediclaim benefit for government employees and their dependents. “There are about 6 lakh state government employees and including their dependents there would be a population of 30 lakh people. All of them will be provided with cashless medical insurance costing Rs 93 crore per annum. The scheme gives cover to the employees and their family members from seven deadly diseases besides other ailments,” Jayachandra clarified.
Medical help for rare diseases
Coming to the rescue of hundreds of patients suffering from rare diseases like Hemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle Cell Anemia and Primary Immune deficiency, the government has kept aside a sum of Rs 10 crore for treatment and medicines.
MLAs to get family rooms!
Clearing a long-pending demand of MLAs, the cabinet approved a proposal to build family rooms in the Legislators’ Home located adjacent to Vidhana Soudha. “About Rs 35 crore has been allotted for the construction of family units for MLAs at the LH,” Jayachandra said. Sources in the Assembly secretariat revealed that the family rooms will be provided only to senior MLAs who have been elected more than three times.
Solar to power revenue offices
The cabinet has decided to install solar power units in all the 176 taluk offices. “A part of the project will be funded by the union government and it would cost a total of Rs 13.4 crore. Solar panels and inverters will be installed in all the offices, to supply uninterrupted power to run computers,” Jayachandra said.
