New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday took five major decisions including the development of Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi.
Briefing reporters, Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the proposal of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the development of Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, Varanasi including the construction of the new terminal building, apron extension, runway Extension, parallel taxi track and allied works have been approved.
"The estimated financial outgo will be Rs 2869.65 crore for enhancing the passenger handling capacity of the airport to 9.9 million passengers per annum (MPPA) from the existing 3.9 MPPA. The new terminal building which encompasses an area of 75,000 sqm is designed for a capacity of 6 MPPA and for handling 5000 Peak Hour Passengers (PHP)," the minister said.
The Union Cabinet also approved the Central Sector Scheme 'National Forensic Infrastructure Enhancement Scheme' (NFIES) with a total financial outlay of Rs 2254.43 crore during the period from 2024-25 to 2028-29. The financial outlay of the Central Sector Scheme will be provisioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs from its own budget, the Centre said.
"With the enactment of the new criminal laws which mandates forensic investigation for offences involving punishment of seven years or more, a significant increase in the workload of forensic science laboratories is expected," the Union Minister added.
The Narendra Modi-led government also increased the Minimum Support Prince of Kharif Crops for Marketing Season 2024-25, to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce. The highest absolute increase in MSP over the previous year has been recommended for oilseeds and pulses viz. niger seed (Rs 983 per quintal) followed by sesamum (Rs 632 per quintal) and tur/arhar (Rs 550 per quintal).
The increase in MSP is in line with the Union Budget 2018-19 announcement of fixing the MSP at a level of at least 1.5 times of the All-India weighted average cost of production, The expected margin to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be highest in case of bajra (77 per cent) followed by tur (59 per cent), maize (54 per cent) and urad (52 per cent).
For the rest of the crops, the margin to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be at 50 per cent. During the period 2003-04 to 2013-14 for 14 crops covered under the Kharif Marketing Season, the minimum absolute increase in MSP was Rs 745 per quintal for Bajra and the maximum absolute increase was Rs 3,130 per quintal for Moong while during the period 2013-14 to 2023-24, the minimum absolute increase in MSP was Rs 780 per quintal for Maize and maximum absolute increase was Rs 4,234 per quintal for Nigerseed.
The Union Cabinet also approved the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme for offshore wind energy projects at a total outlay of Rs 7453 crore, including an outlay of Rs 6853 crore for installation and commissioning of 1 GW of offshore wind energy projects (500 MW each off the coast of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu), and grant of Rs 600 crore for upgradation of two ports to meet logistics requirements for offshore wind energy projects.
The Cabinet has also approved setting up a Major Port at Vadhavan near Dahanu in Maharashtra. The total project cost including the land acquisition component is Rs 76,220 crore. This will include the development of core infrastructure in public-private partnership (PPP) mode, the Centre added.
