Ranchi, Mar 12 (PTI) The Jharkhand government will extend by up to three years the services of Forest Range Officers and Assistant Conservators of Forest, who are due to retire, in a bid to deal with manpower crunch, an official said.

The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Champai Soren.

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“Extension in service will be given for one to three years. This was done in view of the shortage of range officers and ACFs in the department,” Cabinet Secretary Vandana Dadel said.

As many as 30 other proposals were cleared during the cabinet meeting, including sanctioning of around Rs 151 crore for construction of four degree colleges at Hatghamaria and Bandhgaon in West Singhbhum, Meral in Garhwa and Potka in East Singhbhum district.

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It also approved the proposal of conducting half-yearly and annual evaluation of students in government schools from Classes 1-8.

Besides, the cabinet gave its nod for a stipend of Rs 2,500 per month to 17,380 panchayat assistants in 4,345 gram panchayats, the official added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)