Himachal Pradesh Cabinet approves 8,000+ posts and raises Anganwadi honorariums

Himachal Pradesh Cabinet cleared over 8,000 new government jobs and raised honorariums for Anganwadi and Van Mitra workers on October 10.

Recruitment and appointments

Cabinet approved hiring 4,090 para-workers for Jal Shakti Vibhag. It also allowed filling 3,900 teaching and 900 non-teaching roles for 100 extra CBSE schools. A Limited Direct Recruitment test was cleared for School Management Committee teachers and outsourced computer teachers.

Education sector will fill 320 Assistant Professor posts and appoint 29 Junior Office Assistants on compassionate grounds. Fourteen posts will come up under a new Directorate of Recruitment. Department of Technical Education, Vocational and Industrial Training will now be called Department of Technical Education, Skill and Entrepreneurship Development. It approved filling 40 Assistant Lecturer and 120 Assistant Craft Instructor roles.

In healthcare, 500 Assistant Staff Nurse posts and 24 Medical Officer roles got the go-ahead. The department will fill 30 Radiologist, 13 Clinical Psychologist, six Perfusionist, and 10 Radiographer posts. Two new super-speciality units in Critical Care Medicine and Surgical Gastroenterology will be set up. A Government Nursing College with 60 B.Sc Nursing seats was approved for Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Government Medical College, Chamba.

Other clearances included 172 Multi-Task Worker and 10 Junior Engineer (Civil) posts in PWD; 10 Range Forest Officer and 500 Assistant Forest Guard roles in Forest Department; and 55 posts across horticulture, animal husbandry, treasuries, state taxes, election and forensic services. Cabinet approved 27 posts under the four per cent quota for persons with disabilities, plus 11 extra Multi-Task Worker positions.

Honorariums and financial help

Monthly honorariums for Anganwadi Workers and Helpers went up by ₹1,000, reaching ₹11,500 and ₹6,800 respectively. The yearly income limit for their appointment was raised from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000 for widows, destitute and single women. Van Mitra honorariums jumped from ₹10,000 to ₹12,000. Special Police Officers in border areas will get a ₹500 monthly raise from April 1, 2026.

Monthly pension for persons with 100 per cent disability will rise to ₹3,000 from April 1, 2026. Financial help under President's Merits Assistance Scheme for Home Guard Volunteers and distressed families was bumped from ₹10,000 to ₹25,000, with ₹1 lakh in case of death. Cook-cum-helpers in government schools under the PM-POSHAN Scheme got 12 days of casual leave each year.

Relief packages and schemes

A relief package for disaster-hit families in Boh Valley, Kangra district, was cleared. It offers ₹7.50 lakh for fully damaged homes, ₹1 lakh for household items, ₹5,000 monthly rent help, six months of free food grains, plus compensation for livestock and fisheries losses.

Cabinet approved ₹603 crore funding for the Integrated Development Project for Sustainability and Climate-Resilient Rainfed Agriculture in Solan district. It also doubled Milk Incentive Scheme rates from ₹3 to ₹6 per litre. Mukhyamantri Machhuara Sahayata Yojana was cleared to fix a minimum price of ₹100 per kg for reservoir fish, with subsidies up to ₹20 per kg if auction prices fall short. Trout Risk Fund Scheme got approval with a ₹1 crore budget.

Infrastructure and other clearances

Two special courts for Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act cases will open in Kangra and Mandi districts. A new police post at Koti in Shimla district and a new Jal Shakti Section at Darini, Kangra district, were approved. Plus, PHC Darini will upgrade to a Community Health Centre, and new PHCs will come up at Sansal and Panjoa districts.

Land transfers were cleared for Kendriya Vidyalaya builds in Una and Shimla districts. Cabinet cancelled allotment of 33 small hydro projects due to developer inaction and asked for fresh bids for Chhatru and Ropa power projects.

Infrastructure nods included rebuilding Chotta Shimla Chowk, an underpass, setting up a City Centre at Hamirpur's old bus stand, an Inter-State Bus Terminal in Baddi, and an eight-storey parking and toilet block at Shri Baba Balak Nath Temple, Deotsidh.

State-level Holi Mela at Sujanpur got international status. Nine ecotourism spots were allotted, and control of Pir Nigah Temple in Una district moved to the government. Extra posts were created for Durgasharanya Kangra International Zoological Park.

Cabinet tweaked cash award rules for Himachal Pradesh members of Indian teams winning international sports medals. It allows equal or share-based payouts, with a floor of 25 per cent of individual prize money. Posts for District Youth Services and Sports Officers for international medallists were also set up.

A sub-committee headed by Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri was formed to draft rules for state government staff transfers. Guidelines for ambulance link roads were cleared. Changes to Himachal Pradesh E-Stamping Rules, 2026, give legal backing to digital stamping services.

Cabinet approved Nutrition Policy 2026 and pushed HPSHIVA project two more years till June 2030. Himachal Pradesh Government Dental College and Hospital in Shimla will be renamed Rajiv Gandhi Government Dental College and Hospital.