Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar , who completed eight years in office on Monday, announced the doubling of pension to Bhagalpur riots victims.
Nitish , who released the annual report card of his government, said: “We had set up a judicial commission for the 1989 Bhagalpur riots and have implemented its recommendations. The families of the victims have been getting a monthly pension of Rs 2,500 since 2007. We are happy to double it. We are happy that the Centre considered a compensation for families of Bhagalpur riots victims that is similar to the compensation granted to families of 1984 riots victims.”
The Chief Minister said Food Security Act would be enforced in Bihar from February 1, 2014. He also announced that the Medical Council of India had approved the Pawapuri and Bettiah medical colleges and 534 additional primary healthcare centres would work round the clock within three months.
Nitish said class I to class X students in madarsas and Sanskrit and unaided schools, which have been getting government grant, will now also get scholarships. He claimed the split with the BJP this June had not hurt the continuity of his government and said that there was too much talk of the Patna blasts. “We should have faith in the state police and give them credit for cracking the Patna and Bodhgaya blasts before handing over the Patna case to the NIA. Why so much talk of Patna, there have been several (other) blasts? I also want to know the outcome of the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts investigation.”
Highlighting achievements, Nitish said his government adopted a road maintenance policy and earmarked Rs 2,579 crore for long-term maintenance of 9,064 km of district and state highways.
“Work has already started on the Rs 3,160-crore Ganga Path and Rs 1,289-crore AIIMS-Digha elevated corridor. Plus, four mega bridges on rivers are coming up,” he said.
