Chief Minister Pramod Sawant made the announcement on Wednesday along with a slew of decisions taken by the Cabinet, including the approval granted to providing financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to victims of Covid-19.
The Goa Cabinet on Wednesday approved the procurement of land for double-tracking the Kulem-Margao railway line in cases where people had willingly given their No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for the procurement.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant made the announcement on Wednesday along with a slew of decisions taken by the Cabinet, including the approval granted to providing financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to victims of Covid-19. Families that have an annual income of Rs 8 lakh or less and have been living in Goa for at least 15 years will qualify for the financial assistance.
Following complaints of poor cell phone connectivity in rural parts of the state, the Cabinet also decided to reduce the monthly rent that service providers have to pay to 10 percent. Sawant said that instead of paying Rs 50,000 as rent, the companies coming forward to erect cell phone towers to enhance connectivity in rural areas will have to pay only Rs 5,000 for the first five years.
Recently, students in various parts of Goa had said that they had faced difficulties in accessing online education since connectivity in their villages was poor. The Opposition too had attacked the ruling BJP over the issue.
Sawant also announced that the Cabinet had approved the grant of financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to about 30,000 beneficiaries who may have faced loss of business due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This, he said, would include rickshaw drivers and pilots (two-wheeler taxi operators) in the state, among others.
