Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held a high-level review meeting on plan expenditures of all the departments and reviewed the expenditure on plan heads.

It was found during the review meeting that against the allotment on plan heads, there was plan expenditure to the tune of Rs 12,083.82 crore by end of December last.

After holding discussions on the plan size, the Chief Minister said the plan size would be raised to Rs 28,000 crore.

Giving the information, Principal Secretary Planning and Development Vijay Prakash said every department had been asked by the Chief Minister to prepare their annual action plan.

The Chief Minister also directed the heads of departments to ensure that the allotted funds must be utilised within the stipulated period during 2011-12.

The meeting also decided that a workshop be held for increasing the utiity of Computerised Treasury Management Information system, he said.

Kumar said the state Rural Development department must also ensure construction of buildings of blocks in a phased manner by formulating an action plan, he said.

Besides Kumar, Chief Secretary Navin Kumar, Development Commissioner AK Sinha, secretaries of various departments, including Energy Secretary also attended the meeting.

Courtesy: PTI 

She also castigated the NDA government in the state for its alleged faulty and discriminatory Bihar Slums Development Policy 2011 and accused the government of “overlooking” the displacement of the poor in urban areas. Patkar alleged that though she wanted to raise these issues during her meeting with the chief minister, she was denied an appointment on the plea that Kumar was preoccupied.

“I also wanted to raise the issues of exploitation, and atrocities taking place in Bihar during the meeting”, she said. She alleged that the state government was “soft-pedalling” the issues like breach of embankment of Kosi river in 1998 causing unprecedented floods and Forbesganj police firing.

Patekar demanded that the state government take steps to speed up the inquiry into the twin issues. The social activist was addressing a crowd near Hartali Chowk after the delegation was stopped from meeting the chief minister.

Courtesy: PTI 

The state government has named its insurance scheme as the Bihar Shatabdi Asangathit Karyakshetra Kamgar Evam Shilpkar Surakasha Yojana (Bihar Centenary Unorganized Sector Workers and Craftsmen Security Scheme), because it is celebrating the state’s centenary year in March this year. The nomenclature follows CM Nitish Kumar’s recent announcement that names of all new schemes launched or new landmark buildings constructed or inaugurated this year would bear the prefix “Bihar Shatabdi (Bihar Centenary)”

Under this scheme, the state government would give insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh for accidental death, Rs 75,000 for absolute disability, Rs 37,500 for permanent temporary disability, and Rs 30,000 for death in harness. The annual liability on the state government on account of clearance of all kinds of claims would be around Rs 2 crore.

The state cabinet is “about to give its nod soon”, an official said. Interestingly, the scheme had earlier been placed before the state cabinet for its approval, but was returned to the labour resources department to get clearance from the Yojana Pradhikrit Samiti (empowered committee for schemes), said a source on condition of anonymity. “Once it is cleared by the empowered committee, the proposal related to the new scheme would be placed before the cabinet for its approval,” he added.

The UPA-I had introduced the Aam Admi Bima Yojana, in which the state government and the Centre were to share the premium payment of Rs 200 at Rs 100 each for the beneficiary, while the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) had to clear the claims of the beneficiaries.

Courtesy: TNN

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“It’s worrisome, because Bihar is a state where there is huge unemployment and youths are moving to metros to get any odd job they can find. Such youths can become easy prey for criminals, particularly the underworld and terror outfits,” said a senior police official.

IM’s founder members have always dodged investigating agencies by shifting their recruiting grounds from Maharashtra to UP and now Bihar. The Mumbai police said this is also in keeping with the IM’s avowed aim of spreading the net as wide as possible to cause maximum damage.

ATS chief Rakesh Maria said that the IM first recruited youths from Cheetah Camp in Trombay, then Kondwa in Pune, then Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and now Darbhanga in Bihar. Police said IM founding member Yasin Bhatkal had indoctrinated and trained as many as three dozen youths in Darbhanga. “Bhatkal also made Bihar a base at which he could receive hawala money through Pakistan  via Dubai . He also helped Pakistan’s ISI circulate counterfeit notes in India by first landing them in Bihar,” said Maria.

The two arrested men, Naqi Ahmed and Nadeem Akhtar, have been accused of facilitating, aiding and abetting Bhatkal and two Pakistanis in the 13/7 blasts. Both Naqi and Nadeem hail from Deora Bandhauli, Darbhanga district, Bihar. Earlier, the Delhi police had arrested six IM members, including Qateel Siddiqui, for the Chinnaswamy Stadium and Delhi high court blasts. They too are from Darbhanga.

“In 2008, when the Mumbai crime branch arrested 21 IM members for 11 blasts, including the Ahmedabad and Jaipur blasts, IM founding member Riyaz Bhatkal and his associates went underground. At the same time, the Delhi police carried out the Batla House operation in which IM man Atif and a police inspector were killed. IM’s key members, like Riyaz Bhatkal, Mohsin Choudhary, Iqbal Bhatkal, Abu Rashid, Dr Shanuwaz, Bada Sajid and Salman, fled to Pakistan. Yasin Bhatkal sheltered with his friend Gayoor Jamali at Darbhanga,” said an ATS officer. Jamali is one of the six held in Delhi.

Courtesy: TNN

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The vice-chancellors in Bihar are facing the heat of investigations into a slew of allegations levelled against them.

Facing charges of financial irregularities, the vice-chancellor of a Bihar university has been asked to resign by Friday or be ready to get sacked.

Governor-cum-Chancellor of Universities Debanand Konwar directed Dr K.N. Dubey, vice-chancellor of Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, to put in his papers by January 27 to avoid sacking.

‘From 27th January 2012, it shall be deemed that K.N.Dubey has resigned from his post and the office of the vice chancellor shall be deemed vacant,’ the gubernatorial order, which was faxed by the Raj Bhawan officials to the vice chancellor on Wednesday, reads.

Dubey, who has been facing charges of financial irregularities since taking over in May 2010, said that he would comply with the Chancellor’s order.

But he denied having committed any mistake during his tenure.

Courtesy: Mail Today

The overall objective of the corporation, set up last year, is to procure and ensure provision of quality drugs and equipment and build proper infrastructure for health services.

Health secretary Sanjay Kumar said, “The government is committed to provide timely and effective health care services to the people of the state.

As a large number of people depend on government health care delivery system to meet their needs, it has become imperative for the government to take a lead in this regard. Optimal availability of good quality drugs procured at competitive prices and proper construction and maintenance of health facilities were of paramount importance for better health care delivery.

In such a scenario, the financing and supply of drugs, and various services for government health delivery system have become one of the key concerns for the state government.”

The corporation will not only ensure that the government derives value for money services in a transparent and equitable manner but also make sure that the services are provided in a timely manner.

The corporation would construct quarters for doctors and nurses coupled with 30-bed hospitals, Kumar said, adding that by February-end, tender process for the construction purpose would be rolled out. State-level monitoring would be done to maintain transparency and accountability.

Incidentally, Kumar holds the additional charge of MD, BMSIC.

Courtesy: TNN

According to details of movable and immovable assets declared by ministers for the year ended December 31, 2011, other ministers whose spouses have earned more movable assets are Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh, Building Construction Minister Damodar Raut, Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra and Water Resource Minister Vijay Kumar  Chowdhary.

Narendra Singh has movable assets worth Rs 25.50 lakh while his wife Sagarmani Devi possess more property than Singh. She has movable assets worth Rs 27.42 lakh.

Similarly, health minister Choubey’s movable and immovable properties were less than his wife. Choubey has movable and immovable assets worth Rs 61.24 lakh while his wife Nita Choubey owns property worth Rs 94.99 lakh, over Rs 30 lakh more than her husband.

Deputy Chief Minister Modi, who also holds the charge of finance department , has movable assets worth Rs 25.78 lakh, while his wife J S Modi is owner of movable assets worth Rs 29.84 lakh.

State water resource minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, a close aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has movable properties worth Rs 15 lakh while his wife owns movable assets worth Rs 20.28 lakh.

The property details of the ministers and their family members were posted on the Bihar government website before the Assembly election conducted last October-November as per the directive of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

If the land, house and plots are added together, Choudhary is ahead of his wife in the accumulation of assets.

The figures further revealed that Tourism Minister Sunil Kumar Pintu’s wife has assets more than him which is worth Rs 40.45 lakh while Pintu has declared immovable assets worth Rs 20.09 lakh.

However, there is no uniformity in making public the assets earned by the NDA ministers in Bihar.

There are several ministers who have failed to give details of their movable assets like land and buildings on the ground that their family is not separated.

Minority Welfare minister Shahid Ali Khan has not disclosed the value of his immovable property on the ground that no separation has taken place in his family.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh had also not furnished the details of the joint properties of his family.

The three women  ministers in the Nitish Kumar  cabinet Parveen Amanullah (social welfare), Ranu Kumari (industry) and Sukhda Pandey (art and culture) have shown property more than their husbands.

Pandey has movable properties worth Rs 20.55 lakh as against her husband’s immovable assets worth Rs 46.23 lakh.

Sahi and his wife have immovable property worth Rs 6.42 crore.

Land reforms and revenue minister Ramai Ram is owner of assets worth Rs 1.25 crore while Sushil Kumar Modi has property worth Rs 1.6 crore.

Courtesy: PTI

In a letter to Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, the Chairperson of National Commission for Minorities Wajahat Habibullah has objected to the response of Bihar’s Minority Affairs Minister Shahid Ali Khan on an earlier missive of the NCM about the incident.

The NCM chief said that Khan’s letter gives an impression that the state government is using the instituting of the judicial commission as an “excuse to cover complete inaction” on the recommendations made by the Commission.

The controversy started after Khurshid’s ministry sent a letter written by Habibullah to the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in September last year days after the NCM probed the incident and submitted a report on it.

In the letter, Habibullah had noted that the confidence of minorities in the state was shaken after the incident and made a number of recommendations to compensate the victims and instill confidence among the community.

In a strongly-worded reply to that letter on November 28 last year, Khan told Khurshid that the Centre’s notion was “grossly misplaced”.

He also used the occasion to draw the Union Minister’s attention to the incident of communal violence in Congress-ruled Rajasthan.

“Minorities in Bihar, especially the Muslims are also deeply distressed by the incident that took place in Gopalgarh, Rajasthan about two months ago,” he said asking the minister to convey the state’s concern over the “appalling incident” to Habibullah.

Habibullah has in his reply attached a letter written by Syed Shahabuddin, whose daughter Parveen Amanullah is a minister in Nitish Kumar government. “This incident will leave a long term impact on the community not only in Bihar but all over country,” Shahabuddin had said in the letter.

Habibullah said that Shahabuddin, who is also the President of All India Majlis-e-Mushaarat, is in no way connected with the NCM and “he is in fact father of Shahid Ali Khan’s colleague in the Bihar Council of Ministers.

Khan had earlier written “there is nothing in the event, which would be even remotely interpreted to give the impression that minorities were treated in an unfair manner in the situation that led to the incident.”

Habibuallah also rejected Khan’s contention that the state government will have to wait for the report of the inquiry commission before taking a final view on compensation and said Khan’s letter “studiously avoids any reference” to NCM’s recommendations for expediting and streamlining development work in the district.

On Khan asking Khurshid to convey Bihar’s concern about communal violence in Rajasthan to him, Habibullah said, “The government of Rajasthan has not made the judicial and the CBI inquiry an excuse for inaction but has proceeded to take action under the law, wherever merited.”

Habibullah described Khan’s letter as an “ill-advised response”.

In the letter, he has also reminded the Bihar government that the recommendations of NCM have already been taken care to avoid comments on any issue.

NCM has also written to the Bihar Chief Secretary on January 10 seeking urgent action on NCM’s recommendations.

Soon after the police firing incident in June last year, Habibullah and NCM member Syeda Bilgrami Imam had visited Forbesganj and latter submitted a report, which had recommended that the victims be given compensation as per the suggestions laid down in the proposed Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill.

Courtesy: PTI