Chief Minister Narayan Rane said, ``the tax will be 25 paise per ton of sugarcane. The money will be used to insure labourers and their cattle.''

Rane added that the State Government has decided to open a fair price shop near each sugar factory for the labourers' benefit. He explained that the shop will be given to a labourer or his family member.

Rane said he has in the receipt of the report of a committee comprising of Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde and Sharad Pawar to find out a solution for the problem of wages of sugarcane labourers.

Rane also announced the opening of nine new government-run schools for cane cutters' children in Beed district to begin in the next academic year.

The Chief Minister informed that this programmewould be a pilot project and will be replicated in different parts of the state. ``The Cabinet has also decided to open 50 government-aided schools for children of sugarcane cutting labourers in Beed and Ahmednagar district,'' he further said.

MEDICAL LABS: The State Cabinet today approved an ambitious project to revive medical and pathological laboratories attached to Government hospitals and medical colleges in the State. The project is being financed by aid from the Government of Finland.

Chief Minister Rane today said that blood banks and laboratories attached to 11 medical colleges and 14 government hospitals will be revived to match standards set by the World Health Organisation. ``The project will cost Rs 42.28 crore and Finida - a funding agency of the Government of Finland - will give an interest free loan of Rs 36 crore to the state government. Remaining expenditure will be borne by the state,'' Rane said.

HONORARIUM HIKE FOR SOLDIERS: The Cabinet has raised the amount ofhonorarium being paid to the soldiers from Maharashtra who participated in the Second World War and their widows from Rs 300 to Rs 600 per month.

The decision will be operational from January 1, 1999 and will burden the exchequer by Rs 6.44 crore, Rane said. The State had also decided to give Rs 2 lakh to widows of soldiers and police personnel from Maharashtra who died in security operations including those against terrorists and naxalites.

UPGRADATION OF POLICE POSTS: Three commissioners of police - Ulhas Joshi (Nagpur), Bhujangrao Mohite (Thane) and K K Kashyap (Pune) will be transferred in next couple of days following alliance government's decision to upgrade their posts to Additional Director General of Police from Inspector General of Police, which they now hold.

``The new postings will be done as per the seniority of IPS officials. Since, Joshi, Kashyap and Mohite are much junior, they will be transferred elsewhere,'' a senior official said.

While Joshi and Mohite belong to the 1973batch of IPS, Kashyap belongs to the 1969 batch. ``The decision will help IPS officials up to the 1967 batch to reach the rank of Additional Director General of Police,'' the official said.

The Cabinet also decided to upgrade 20 other posts in the police department.

A senior official of the Home Department informed that B N Mishra, O P Bali, Charansingh Azad, U D Rajawade, P K Joshi, S M Shingari, A K Agarwal, T K Choudhary, R S Sharma and K K Kashyap were on the seniority list. However, promotions may not granted in the same order for administrative reasons, he clarified.

Similarly, seven posts of Special Inspector General of Police and eight for Assistant Director General of Police have also been created.

Chief Minister Rane said that the upgradation exercise would cost the State Rs 10 lakh.

DABHOL POWER: Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde today said that the State Government will be able to purchase 715 mega watts of electricity from the Dabhol Power Company in first week of March1999.

``The board of directors of Enron Corporation and the Dabhol Power Company are in Mumbai and will hold a meeting with the Government tomorrow. The State will be represented by MSEB chairman Ashok Basak and Energy secretary Satish Tripathi,'' Munde said.

He said he was not aware if the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board had issued a no objection to the power plant of the Dabhol Power company.