Nitish Kumar announces new scheme for minority community youths

Patna: The Bihar government on Monday announced the launch of 'Mukhyamantri Alpsankhyak Udyami Yojna' for unemployed youths from the minority community.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar here following a proposal by the industry department.

Talking to reporters, S. Siddhartha, additional chief secretary (cabinet secretariat), said, "With an aim to promote industrial development and generate employment among unemployed minority youths, the cabinet decided to launch 'Mukhyamantri Alpsankhyak (minority) Udyami Yojna (MAUY). The scheme will be implemented on almost similar lines of the existing Mukhyamantri SC/ST/EBC Udyami Yojana, Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyami Yojna (MMUY) and the Mukhyamantri Yuva Udyami Yojana (MYUY)."

"Under this scheme, the Bihar government will provide Rs 10 lakh to an unemployed minority woman or man to start a new industry. Of Rs 10 lakh, Rs 5 lakh would be subsidy, while the rest would be loan, to be returned in installments," said Siddhartha, adding modalities of the scheme will soon be notified by the department concerned.

The cabinet also decided to make medical tests and treatment at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS, Patna), one of the main healthcare institutions in Bihar, free. "Except registration and bed charges, everything will be free for patients at IGIMS. After approval by the cabinet today, a detailed notification in this regard will soon be issued by the health department," said Siddhartha.

The cabinet also approved the proposal of the state home department to create 28 dedicated traffic police stations across Bihar, in addition to the existing 12.

"Traffic police stations will be set up in 23 towns that have a population of over 2 lakh, besides five in small towns. These new traffic police stations will come up in Kishanganj, Nawada, Siwan, Buxar, Madhubani, Jehanabad, Bhabhua, Supal, Saharsa, Jamui, Rohtas, Betiah, Vaishali, Aurangabad, Arabia, etc. The cabinet also approved changes in the jurisdiction of existing traffic police stations of Patna and Gaya," he added.

Currently, traffic police stations are operational in 12 districts — Patna, Bhagalpur, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Purnia, Saran, Darbhanga, Ara, Begusarai, Katihar and Munger.