Dehradun, Jan 22 (PTI) The Uttarakhand government on Friday authorised the Garhwal Commissioner and the Kumbh Mela official to allocate works up to worth Rs 5 crore and Rs 2 crore respectively to speed up preparations for the forthcoming Kumbh Mela in Haridwar.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat here on Friday evening, Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik told reporters.

The mela official has also been authorised to increase the amount to be spent over sanctioned works by 50 per cent if necessary and split works of lengthy nature into two parts, he said.

To promote the Sanskrit language, the cabinet also decided to pay a monthly salary of Rs 15,000 to contractual teachers of the language teaching for more than five years, Rs 25,000 to those teaching for 10 years and Rs 30,000 to those teaching for more than 10 years, Kaushik said.

Contractual teachers of Sanskrit with an M.Phil or PHD degreee will be paid an additional sum of Rs 5,000 per month as per the UGC norms, he said.

As many as 155 contractual teachers of Sanskrit will benefit from the decision, the minister said.

The cabinet also gave its nod to release Rs 3.79 crore for payment of scholarship dues to scheduled caste students of Class 9 and 10 of 2017-18 and 2018-19 sessions.

It also decided to allocate 4.384 hectares of land in Haridwar free of cost to the governing bodies of saints and seers for bhu-samadhi (land burial) of sadhus when they leave for heavenly abode, Kaushik said. PTI ALM AQS AQS

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U''khand govt gives more authority to Kumbh officials to speed up preparations - Outlook India