The government of Uttar Pradesh under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has decided to appoint ‘Lok Kalyan Mitras‘; workers who will disseminate information to the people about various developmental practices and program by the government.
A written exam will be conducted by the government wherein the 822 Lok Kalyan Mitras will be selected for each block of the state. The selected workers will be paid a salary of Rs.25000 and they will be employed on an annual contract. The renewal of these contracts will be done on the basis of performance, those of which will be assessed by the Chief Minister himself.
The decision was taken after a cabinet meeting in the Lok Bhawan in Lucknow, on Tuesday.
This decision to hire Lok Kalyan Mitras is likely to draw criticisms from Opposition parties as these contracts can be seen as a way to use government money for a political campaign. These appointments are an addition to the already existing bureaucratic machinery in districts, that is responsible for the implementation of government schemes.
Furthermore, the decisions were taken to vacate the property of the State Estate Department and easing rules of air travel by MLAs, in the cabinet meeting.
Shrikant Sharma, the spokesperson for the UP government, said, “The Cabinet has approved the rules related to eviction of people who have violated rules and have not vacated the properties of the State Estates Department. Under this, the State Estates Department can now evict any person who is living illegally in the government property.”
This means that the UP government can now evict illegal occupants on government properties like NGOs, political parties, social institutions, trusts, employee organizations, etc.
The cabinet also decided that MLAs could now fly via Air India without prior MCQ, where earlier they had to take prior permission for MCQ if they traveled by Air India