By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The Uttarakhand cabinet on Wednesday slashed VAT on natural gas by 15 percent, doubled the monthly old-age pension for writers and artists, and increased the retirement age for professors and associate professors in medical education to 62 years.
After the state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in Dehradun, Principal Secretary R. Meenakshisundaram told reporters that it was decided to reduce the current 20 percent VAT on PNG and CNG to 5 percent to promote green and clean energy in the state.
He said that the cabinet also approved the proposal for the Horticulture and Food Processing Department to purchase Royal Delicious apples from the disaster-affected Dharali and surrounding areas of Uttarkashi district at Rs 51 per kg and Red Delicious apples and other varieties at Rs 45 per kg.
In another decision, the proposal to increase the monthly pension of Rs 3,000 given to artists and writers in the state in old age to Rs 6,000 was approved.
He said that under the Ease of Doing Business initiative, the cabinet also approved the system of self-certification of building plans for low-risk buildings such as single residential or small commercial buildings by empanelled architects.
The state cabinet also approved the Uttarakhand Medical Education Service (Amendment) Rules, 2025, under which the retirement age for professors and associate professors has been increased from 50 years to 62 years.
In addition, the cabinet decided to refer the matter of providing ‘equal pay for equal work’ to a total of 277 personnel working on contract, daily wage, fixed salary, and through the management committee at the Government Medical College in Srinagar to a cabinet sub-committee. The Cabinet also decided to grant a 50 percent additional allowance (50 percent of the minimum pay scale in the pay matrix level) to specialist doctors under the PMHS cadre, i.e., those working in medical and health services under the state government, to encourage them to serve in hilly, remote, and extremely difficult areas and to ensure their presence in these regions.