Industry Department approves revival of administrative and field cadre, 97 posts will be recruited immediately: Harpal Singh Cheema

Chandigarh: Punjab Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema has given formal approval to the comprehensive administrative proposals regarding recruitment to the posts of 619 Multipurpose Health Workers (Women) under the Health and Family Welfare Department and strategic revival of important administrative and field posts of the Industries Department. The objective of this decision is to make public services more effective and create new opportunities for institutional employment.

Big statement of Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema    

Sharing the details of both the administrative approvals in a press statement issued here, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that these steps are aimed at strengthening the health services at the grassroots level across Punjab and making the industrial administration more efficient. He said that the government will maintain strict financial discipline and ensure that there is no shortage of staff in essential departments directly related to the general public.

Giving information about this big recruitment drive in the health sector of the state, the Finance Minister said that under the newly approved structure, 619 vacant posts of Multipurpose Health Worker (Women) Group-C will be filled. He said that a balanced and strategic inclusion of direct recruitment and promotion quota has been done in these 619 posts.

According to the Finance Minister, there are a total of 220 posts which are vacant for less than a year, while 346 posts have been reserved for the promotion quota, so that eligible employees of the Trained Midwife (Trained Midwife) cadre can be promoted as Multipurpose Health Workers (Women).

He further informed that 53 posts of direct recruitment, which were vacant for more than a year and were abolished as per the guidelines of the Finance Department dated June 6, 2019, will be formally reinstated after obtaining necessary approval of the Cabinet.

Finance Minister Cheema said, "Under this initiative, health workers will be appointed in the pay scale of Rs 21,700 to Rs 69,100 in Level-3 as per the ‘Punjab Health and Family Welfare Technical (Group-C) Services (First Amendment) Rules, 2025’. In order to complete the recruitment process quickly, the state government has decided to keep these 619 posts out of the jurisdiction of Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board. Instead, the entire recruitment process will be conducted through Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot. Formal consent and approval in this regard has already been given by the Subordinate Services Selection Board on 3 December 2025."

He said that filling up these posts will put an additional annual financial burden of about Rs 16.12 crore on the state government during the probation period.

Referring to the administrative reforms in the industrial sector, Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema said that the proposal of the Industries Department to revive important direct recruitment cadres to maintain efficiency has also been approved. He said that during the restructuring in the year 2020, the Industries Department had surrendered 721 posts out of its total 1,728 sanctioned posts, due to which the organizational capacity of the department was reduced by about 42 percent and only 825 sanctioned posts were left in Group-A, Group-B and Group-C.

The Finance Minister said that if there is further reduction in the number of employees, it will have a serious adverse impact on the functioning of the department and the delivery of services at the ground level. Therefore, the Industries Department has been permitted to issue recruitment advertisement for a maximum of 97 posts during the current financial year. Along with this, he directed the Industries Department to immediately prepare a comprehensive and modern restructuring review, in which a realistic assessment of the current administrative responsibilities and functions of the department should be presented. After this, this review will be sent as a formal proposal to the Finance Department for long-term planning.