CHANDIGARH — The Punjab Cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, approved a series of administrative reforms on Monday addressing long-pending service grievances for healthcare personnel, bolstering election infrastructure, regularising contractual staff, and unlocking tourism potential across border districts. Announcing the decisions following the meeting, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema highlighted that the measures focus on administrative efficiency and long-term service stability for state employees.
In a major relief for the healthcare workforce, the Cabinet gave its assent to amendments in the Punjab Nursing Education Service Rules, 2016. Explaining the rationale, Cheema noted that despite the administrative restructuring of the nursing education wing in 2021 and the subsequent recruitment of approximately 1,467 nursing personnel, updated service frameworks had remained in limbo. The absence of modernized rules had triggered severe procedural bottlenecks regarding career progression, promotions, and seniority determinations. The newly amended framework formalizes promotion channels and standardizes service conditions overseen by the Punjab Nurses Registration Council.
The council of ministers also sanctioned the creation of additional administrative posts within the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab. The expansion is designed to accelerate day-to-day poll administration and reinforce institutional bandwidth amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral rolls.
Addressing service conditions in the education sector, the Cabinet resolved to absorb and regularise non-teaching personnel working under the Punjab Institute of Technology Society (PITS) into the permanent society fold, extending job security to long-serving staff after earlier similar transitions granted to computer educators.
The meeting concluded with a development roadmap for regional tourism, singling out Pathankot and its peripheries for targeted infrastructural investment. Situated at the tri-junction of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir, Pathankot serves as a crucial transit artery for hill-bound traffic; the state aims to leverage its natural and historical heritage to generate localized employment and stimulate regional commerce.
