An AIIMS campus in Devipur block in Deoghar district of Jharkhand, a Central university for Andhra Pradesh, a National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation at Bhopal and an integrated multi-model industrial hub in Nangal Chaudhary village of Haryana were among the decisions approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday.
The CCEA also approved a new policy on biofuels, revised the budget for the implementation of the network for spectrum for the armed forces by Rs 11,330 crore and approved the initial corpus of Rs 5,000 crore as a 'micro-irrigation fund' to be extended to the states through NABARD.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shanker Prasad said the greenfield AIIMS campus will have a 750-bed hospital, a trauma centre and a medical college that will take in 100 students every year and a nursing college that will admit 60 students. The 237 acres for this institution will be given by the state government. The new AIIMS will be completed in 45 months, Prasad said.
The Central University of Andhra Pradesh will be built by the human resources development ministry through the UGC. An initial allocation of Rs 902.07 crore has been made by the cabinet.
The Nangal Chaudhary project is part of the "freight villages" required for the 1,504km of the Delhi-Mumbai Integrated Corridor, a prized infrastructure project. While the Haryana government will arrange the land, the Centre has allocated Rs 1,029.49 crore for the first phase of the hub in Nangal Chaudhary village.
The new biofuels policy expands the scope of raw materials for ethanol and encourages setting up of supply chain mechanisms for biodiesel production from non-edible oilseeds. According to the law minister, the policy is expected to held save forex to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore in the current year, and provide a cleaner environment. This policy, Prasad said, recognised the government's intent to reduce import of fuel by 10 per cent by 2022.
The cabinet also approved the signing of a milestone agreement between India and Brunei Darussalam for exchange of information and assistance in collection, with respect to taxes."This will lead to automatic exchange of information, which will be treated as confidential. Both the countries will pass the necessary laws," said Prasad, adding that the government had got into similar agreements with Mauritius and Cyprus earlier.