The Bihar cabinet, chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar, has cleared 16 proposals across infrastructure, education, tourism and health.
Among the key decisions, the cabinet approved two major road projects — widening the 19.43 km Salepur–Narsanda–Telmar–Karauta stretch into a four-lane highway at a cost of Rs 53.91 billion, and constructing a 7.4 km four-lane stretch with a rail overbridge near Rajgir for Rs 36.39 billion.
In tourism, in-principle approval was granted for setting up two five-star hotels in Rajgir and a five-star resort in Vaishali under a public-private partnership model. Teachers receiving the state teacher award will see the prize money doubled from Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000.
Other approvals included Rs 10 billion investment from the state’s contingency fund into the Guarantee Redemption Fund, a one-time grant of Rs 60 million under the National Agriculture Market scheme for 20 sites, reduced application fees for state recruitment exams, land transfers for a police battalion headquarters in Banka and a grid substation in Buxar, amendments to cadre rules for auxiliary nurse midwives, new service rules for the sugarcane industry, and continued funding for the e-Beneficiary Portal.
The cabinet also decided to observe the birth anniversary of freedom fighter and former minister Upendra Nath Verma as a state memorial event every August 23 in Gaya.
News source: Patna Press
