Uttarakhand Cabinet approves hike in land circle rates

Uttarakhand Cabinet has given its approval to increase the circle rates of land in the state every year instead of earlier three year.

The meeting chaired by chief minister Harish Rawat also gave its nod to fix the circle rates for the cities where it was not applicable earlier, chief secretary Subash Kumar said here today.

The new rates will be decided by the district magistrates concerned and will come into effect from September 1, he said.

In another Cabinet decision yesterday, a new policy has been announced for encouraging private education in the hilly districts of the state.

According to it, the land criteria for establishing private universities has been lowered to 5 acres from the 7.5 acres earlier.

The processing fee for the private institutes has also been lowered from 10 lakh to 2 lakh rupees, the chief secretary said, adding that roads, electricity and water facilities will be provided by the state government.

In another decision, the Cabinet has bar the outsiders from storing the river-bed mining related products in the Uttarakhand. Now, no person can store these products whose crusher is not in the state.