Bihar cabinet approves proposal to purchase new plane & helicopter

Patna: The Bihar Cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposal to purchase a new plane and a helicopter for the movement of VIPs and VVIPs, an official said.

The proposal was prepared by the Directorate of Civil Aviation (Cabinet Secretariat Department, Bihar government).

The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar approved the proposal to constitute a high-level committee, headed by the chief secretary, for purchasing a new jet plane and a helicopter for the movement of VIPs and VVIPs.

Talking to reporters, after the cabinet meeting, S Siddharth, Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat), said, "The cabinet approved the proposal to constitute a high-level committee, headed by the chief secretary, to decide the modalities to purchase a new jet engine plane (10+2 seater) and a helicopter for the movement of VIPs and VVIPs. The committee will decide the price and other modalities for the purchase".

The committee will submit its report in three months.

The state at present has a 'King Air C-90 A/B' plane and VT-EBG helicopter, he said "Apart from this, two helicopters Dauphin SA365N, VT-ENU are under maintenance and they will soon be fit to fly. Later, they will be used for training and tourist purposes", Siddharth said. The process to purchase the new jet engine plane and a helicopter will start after the final report of the committee, he said.

The cabinet also approved the proposal to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Building Construction Department of Bihar government and the National Informatics Center (NIC) for proper maintenance and development of the state government's different online services pertaining to building construction, he said.