Govt relaxes rules for selling land in proposed township areas

Patna: The state cabinet chaired by CM Samrat Choudhary on Wednesday approved the proposal to purchase land for the proposed 11 greenfield satellite townships and to lease or sell the acquired land to investors for investment projects approved by the State Investment Promotion Board.The sale and purchase of land in the proposed satellite township areas are currently banned. The state govt has now relaxed the restrictions on the sale, purchase, and transfer of land designated for the proposed townships. Landowners can now sell their land to the govt in cases of family crises, major expenses such as weddings, or other special circumstances. The cabinet has authorised relevant administrative officials to acquire the land from the owners.A total of 29 agenda items were approved during the state cabinet meeting.The Bihar Outstanding Sportspersons Direct Recruitment Rules will be amended to provide higher-grade jobs to athletes who excelled at national and international events.The cabinet approved the proposal to provide either 50% of the travel expenses or Rs20,000 per pilgrim upon completion of the ‘Sindhu Darshan’ pilgrimage in Ladakh under the ‘Sindhu Darshan Pilgrimage Financial Assistance Grant Scheme-2026’.

Among the other major cabinet decisions were setting up a CISF centre at Dobhi in Gaya district, introducing state govt’s chartered helicopters for the CM Bihar Heli-Tourism and Air Tourism Service Scheme for fast and convenient travel among various tourist destinations like Rajgir, Valmikinagar and Maa Mundeshwari temple in the state, developing the ‘Buddha Samyak Darshan Museum-cum-Memorial Stupa’ into an international tourist destination, creation of OSD post at the Patna high court and grant for the Bihar Higher Judicial Service (Amendment) Rules, 2026.Land will be acquired across Chand and Chainpur blocks of Kaimur district for the Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata Expressway proposed by the central govt. A sum of Rs230 crore has been sanctioned for this purpose.A study will be conducted on the sand availability in five rivers: Sone, Kiul, Falgu, Morhar, and Chanan. A sum of Rs2.32 crore has been sanctioned for this and the services of the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute will be engaged for this purpose.An Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) will be established under the PPP mode to manage traffic and reduce road accidents. A budget of Rs622 crore has been approved to install it at 500 locations across the state.The cabinet also extended the contractual appointment of Rajiv Kumar, director, Bihar legislative assembly secretariat for a period of one year following the end of his current tenure on June 30.