The Punjab Cabinet on Friday approved the transfer policy 2020-21 for non-teaching staff of the School Education department, to be effective from April 1 this year.
Also, the government is mulling changes in the excise policy and labour laws amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
“Under the policy, schools and offices have been categorised in five zones, and transfers would be carried out only once a year, in an objective manner through a merit-based software. The criteria for deciding the merit would be: 95 points for length of service, 55 marks for special category employees and 90 marks for performance etc,” said an official statement.
The statement said the government was mulling changes in the excise policy and labour laws in the light of the coronavirus impact, amid efforts to revive the State’s economy and industry.
The Cabinet, which met here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, sought the details of COVID-19 and lockdown implications for the excise policy and its execution. “The Excise department has been asked to review the policy in this context and bring a detailed proposal before the Council of Ministers, which will meet again on Saturday to further discuss the issue,” it said.
Welfare measures
Underlining the need for industry to retain labour and prevent migrant workers from leaving Punjab, the Chief Minister asked the Industries Minister to take all possible welfare measures to ensure that they were well taken care of.
Amid concerns over women with small children (under 5 years) deployed for COVID-19 frontline duties, the Chief Minister asked the Chief Secretary to discuss the matter with various departments and formulate necessary guidelines to ensure the protection of such women, the statement added.
