Chandigarh, Oct. 14 -- The Punjab cabinet on Monday approved a five-year extension for the completion of mega projects that have been hanging fire for the past nine years, since 2016. There are at least 100 such projects in the state that were registered in 2016 and are seeking extension. With the cabinet approval, the projects can be completed by December 31, 2030. The promoter of the project seeking extension has to deposit a sum of Rs.25,000 per acre per year. As per the decision, the payment shall be deposited upfront for the extension of the implementation period, and no extension in the implementation period shall be permissible thereafter. These mega projects fall under the Greater Mohali Areas Development Authority (GMADA), and the local authorities in Patiala, Bathinda, Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Jalandhar. To ease the process of determining the reserve price of the various sites of development authorities, the cabinet also gave its consent to amend the policy to fix the reserve price of plots. As per the amendment in the e-auction policy, the reserve price of the sites will be fixed in accordance with the valuation of the three independent evaluators empanelled in nationalised banks. The reserve price once fixed for an auction will remain valid for the calendar year. The cabinet also gave approval to a policy for allotment of sites to cooperative societies for the construction of multi-storey flats under the group housing scheme - 2025. This policy aims to boost the supply of affordable and planned housing in urban areas of Punjab by facilitating cooperative housing societies. It provides a transparent, fair, and structured framework for the allotment of land, ensuring timely construction and development in line with the state's urban planning goals. The council of ministers also gave a nod for enhancing the compensation for crop loss to farmers up to Rs.20,000 per acre. CM Bhagwant Mann had earlier made the announcement. A spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said that in order to provide adequate relief to the affected persons for crop loss and house damage caused by natural calamities, the cabinet also gave nod to ex-post facto approval regarding the revision of the rates of relief amount to be paid from the state budget for crop loss and house damage. "As the state has faced severe floods, so the relief amount was increased to Rs.10,000 per acre for crop loss of 26-75%, Rs.20,000 per acre for crop loss of 76-100%, and Rs.40,000 per unit for partially damaged houses from the existing Rs.6500," the spokesperson added. "Since the amount given from the state disaster response fund (SDRF) by the Centre will not be increased, this additional compensation will be provided by the state government from its own treasury," the spokesperson added. For better functioning of interstate check posts, the cabinet decided to amend the Punjab Minor Mineral Rules, 2013, to levy a fee on the vehicles carrying processed or unprocessed minor minerals entering the state. This will help in raising the operational cost being incurred by the department on interstate check posts....