Bihar Cabinet sanctions Rs 40 crore to enforce prohibition

Patna: Bihar government on Tuesday sanctioned a fund of Rs 40 crore from its contingency fund for effectively enforcing complete prohibition in Bihar. “The Cabinet today sanctioned Rs 40 crore from Bihar Contingency Fund for purchasing various equipment and instruments to effectively enforce complete prohibition in the state,” Cabinet Secretariat Department’s Principal Secretary Brajesh Mehrotra told reporters. Registration, excise and prohibition department would purchase 1,000 breath analysers, 1,000 CCTV cameras, 2,000 movable trolleys, besides installing 600 checkposts, 700 barriers and 200 dropgates for effectively implementing the complete prohibition, which came into force on 5 April, Mehrotra said. Earlier, the government had banned manufacture, trade, transportation, sale and consumption of country-made and spiced liquor from 1 April. [caption id=“attachment_2716310” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of Nitish Kumar. PTI[/caption] The Cabinet also sanctioned Rs 112.85 crore for the construction of buildings for skill development training centres in all the 534 blocks of the state, Mehrotra said. As per the state government’s ‘saat nischay’ (seven resolves) programme, youths have to be trained for enhancing their communication skill, besides imparting training to provide basic knowledge of computer to them. A skill development training centre has to be set up in every block for imparting training to youths, he said. The cabinet also sanctioned Rs 234.52 crore for allotment of 125 acres of land identified at mega industrial park for development of new campus for NIT, Patna, Mehrotra said. It also gave its nod for hike in dearness allowance (DA) of those whose salary/pension/family pension have not been revised since 2006, the principal secretary said, adding that they would now be paid 245 percent of DA instead of existing 234 percent from 1 January, 2016. The number of such employees would be around 15-20 in the state, he added. A total of 11 decisions were taken at today’s Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.