Govt OKs Rs 1713.81cr for university pay, pension

 Patna: The Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday permitted despatch of India-made foreign liquor (IMFL) and beer produced in distilleries located in the state for sale outside Bihar without paying any duty. The bottling fee paid by them has also been waived to ensure that the brewers are not deprived of a level playing field due to the prohibition enforced in Bihar since April 5.
A decision to the effect was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet which also okayed a state education department’s proposal to disburse grants for payment of teachers and non-teaching staff in universities for the period from March 2016 to February 2017. “A sum of Rs 1,713.81 crore has been released for the salary, pension and other heads such as pending dearness allowance etc,” principal secretary (state cabinet secretariat) Brajesh Mehrotra told newsmen.
Under the chief minister Kumar’s ‘Saat Nishchay’ initiative, district magistrates have been authorised to take decisions on using government or departmental land for the execution of ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’ scheme.
The state urban development and housing department’s proposal for the water supply scheme in Kishanganj, Begusarai, Biharsharif and Darbhanga under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was also approved by the cabinet. A sum of Rs 239.1 crore was sanctioned for the purpose.
A proposal of the state water resources department to increase the rate of water charges for industrial, commercial and municipal use from Rs 4.50 per thousand gallon to Rs 18 per thousand gallon was also approved.
The cabinet also gave its nod to a health department’s proposal to create 71 new posts of faculty members for the medical college run by Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, as per a directive of the Medical Council of India. The cabinet also approved filling of vacancies of lecturers in different polytechnics. A sum of Rs 7.3 crore was sanctioned for building and other expenditure of Simultala Awasiya Vidyalaya, Jamui, for the year 2016-17.