Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday announced an increase in the contract renewal period of Home Guards and Home Guard Volunteers from five to 15 years, fulfilling their long-standing demand.
He made the announcement while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the new administrative building of the Directorate of Home Defence at Vidyadhar Nagar.
The state government has been committed to make the Home Guard a strong and efficient organisation from the very beginning, the chief minister said, according to a statement issued here.
The manner in which Home Guards have served shoulder to shoulder with doctors, health workers and police as "Corona warriors" in the difficult times of the pandemic is commendable, Gehlot said.
He said many important decisions have been taken by the state government to strengthen the Home Guard Department. The contract renewal period of Home Guards and Home Guard Volunteers from five to 15 years, Gehlot said.
The chief minister said besides increasing the honorarium of Home Guards by 15 per cent, the state government is also giving an assistance of up to Rs 2 lakh from the welfare fund for small businesses to volunteers who are not in the service after attaining the age of 58 years.
Gehlot said Rajasthan has become the leading state in implementing welfare programmes such as cashless treatment up to Rs 25 lakh and the free Annapurna Food Packet Scheme under the Chief Minister Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme.
Public Works Minister Bhajan Lal Jatav, MLA Narpat Singh Rajvi, Principal Government Secretary (Home Defence) Anand Kumar, Director General (Home Defence) Utkal Ranjan Sahu were also present at the event.
In a separate statement, the Rajasthan government said units of the Rajiv Gandhi Center of Advanced Technology (R-CAT) will be opened in Ajmer, Kota, Bharatpur, Bikaner and Udaipur divisions of the state.
Gehlot has approved a financial provision of Rs 25.90 crore for this, it said.
With the opening of these centre, youngsters will get information about advanced techniques of block chain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and virtual reality. Certificate courses and multi-disciplinary research can be done at these centres, the statement.
