Punjab Cabinet Approves Free Bus Travel For NEET Candidates

Last Updated:June 10, 2026, 21:18 IST

Punjab Cabinet led by Bhagwant Singh Mann okays free bus travel for NEET UG candidates, biogas plants, seniority rule fix, & wider industrial incentives

The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday cleared a package of decisions spanning student welfare, government recruitment, infrastructure and industrial policy, with the most immediate relief going to students appearing in the rescheduled NEET UG examination on June 21. Free bus travel on state-run buses has been approved for all NEET candidates and one attendant each, travelling to examination centres across Punjab and Chandigarh on June 20, 21 and 22.

Students will need only their admit cards to board Punjab Roadways, PUNBUS and PRTC buses. No fare will be charged. The financial liability of the scheme will be carried by the Transport Department and reimbursed by the Finance Department. The NEET UG examination, originally scheduled for May 3, 2026, was cancelled and has since been rescheduled for June 21.

1,013 Lecturer Posts, Five-Year Age Relaxation For Applicants

The Cabinet approved the filling of 1,013 sanctioned vacant posts in the Lecturer Cadre (Group-B) through the Education Recruitment Directorate, covering both backlog and newly created vacancies. Alongside the recruitment drive, the Cabinet granted a one-time relaxation of five years in the upper age limit for candidates applying for Lecturer Cadre posts in the School Education Department.

The age relaxation addresses a cohort of candidates who have aged out of eligibility windows through years of delayed recruitment cycles, a pattern the Mann government has repeatedly cited as a legacy problem in Punjab’s public employment machinery. The 1,013 posts add to a government jobs tally that has crossed 67,000 merit-based appointments since AAP came to power in 2022.

156 Junior Engineers For Public Works Department

The Cabinet also approved the recruitment of 156 Junior Engineers in the Public Works Department: 127 posts of Junior Engineer (Civil) and 29 posts of Junior Engineer (Electrical). All posts will go through direct recruitment via the Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board. The infusion is aimed at plugging supervisory and execution gaps in infrastructure project delivery across the state, where an understaffed PWD has been a persistent bottleneck.

Patiala And Jalandhar To Get Compressed Biogas Plants

On the clean energy front, the Cabinet awarded Wet Waste Based Compressed Biogas projects of 100 tonnes per day capacity each at Municipal Corporation Patiala and Municipal Corporation Jalandhar to HPCL Renewable and Green Energy Limited, on a nomination basis. Punjab currently generates nearly 4,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day across 166 Urban Local Bodies. The two plants will process wet waste scientifically, reducing landfill load, cutting methane emissions and generating both renewable energy and organic manure as outputs.

The projects fit within a broader circular economy framework the state has been building around its urban waste management infrastructure, converting a disposal problem into an energy input rather than leaving it at the landfill.

Seniority Dispute Rule Gets A Fix

The Cabinet approved an amendment to Rule 8 of the Punjab Civil Services (General and Common Conditions of Service) Rules, 1994, addressing a narrow but recurring administrative problem: what happens when two candidates share identical merit scores and identical dates of birth. Under the amended rule, inter se seniority in such cases will be determined by final grading or percentage in the minimum educational qualification prescribed for the post. It is a small change that closes a genuine gap, one that has generated disproportionate litigation in the past.

Industrial Policy Amended To Widen The Net For Fiscal Incentives

The Cabinet cleared amendments to the Industrial and Business Development Policy, 2026, and to several sectoral policies under the Punjab Udyog Kranti initiative. The most consequential change extends fiscal incentives to existing industrial units broadly, rather than limiting them to existing MSMEs as the earlier framework did. The amendments also tighten provisions around industrial clusters, research and development facilities and environment-friendly technologies.

A one-time incentive of Rs 10 lakh, available to the first 50 eligible units, will now include industries achieving a minimum Gold Level ZED Certification or higher. Provisions relating to overall incentive caps in sectoral policies will be treated as indicative rather than statutory, giving the government more room to negotiate bespoke investment packages without tripping over hard ceilings in the policy text.

Mann has framed the Udyog Kranti initiative as the industrial counterpart to the government’s employment and startup push, with the policy amendments designed to retain existing industrial investment in Punjab while the seed grant and startup ecosystem work attracts new enterprise from scratch.

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Anoshito Banerjee

Anoshito Banerjee is a digital journalist at CNN-News18, specialising in Indian foreign policy, global diplomacy, South and West Asian geopolitics, and strategic affairs. His reporting spans hard news...Read More

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