Bihar Cabinet approves two five-star hotels; 16 other decisions given approval

The Bihar cabinet on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) approved the construction of two five star hotels at Rajgir in the Nalanda district and a five star resort in Vaishali district in PPP mode to provide better and quality accommodation to the tourists visiting these places.

The decision was taken during the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in which a total of 16 decisions were approved. 

As per the tourism department’s proposal, two five-star hotels will be constructed on 10 acres of land near Mela Maidan in Rajgir in Nalanda district while a five-star resort will be developed on 10 acres of land at recently inaugurated Buddha Samyak Darshan Museum-cum-Memorial Stupa, Cabinet Secretariat Department’s Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) S. Siddharth said in a post Cabinet briefing. 

The two hotels and a resort will be constructed and operated in accordance with the provisions of Infrastructure Development Enabling (Amendment) Act, 2023, he said and added that the land will be provided on “lease” to the private developer which will carry out the construction of hotels on the said land.

Stating that a huge number of tourists visit several tourist places in Rajgir and Vaishali, Mr. Siddharth said that the construction of five-star hotels and a resort will provide better amenities and quality accommodation to the tourist visiting the two aforementioned places. 

The decision to provide modern facilities and quality accommodation at tourist sites apart from the State capital will not only give a boost to the tourism sector of the State but will also spur economic and social activities leading to creation of both employment and trade opportunities, a Cabinet press note said.

In another important decision, the Cabinet gave its nod to the education department’s proposal to double the amount of ‘State Teacher Award’ from ₹15,000 to ₹30,000.

The award is given by the State government to teachers of primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary government schools for developing a quality education system and also to motivate them for their good work.

Earlier, the number of recipients of the award used to be two-three but the last year, 42 teachers were given the State teacher award, Mr. Siddharth said while making it clear that the number of recipients could be more depending on the availability of able teachers as there is no cap with regard to how many teachers can be given this award.

The Cabinet also decided to reduce the fee to ₹100 for candidates appearing for Preliminary Test (PT) whereas no examination fee will be charged for mains. Along with it the candidates clearing PT will not be charged any fee for the mains examination.

Bihar CM in his independence day speech announced about the fee reduction and fee waiver for PT and Mains exams held by various commissions to fill the different posts of government jobs. 

The Cabinet also sanctioned ₹363.99 crore for the construction of a 7.40 KM four lane road including an ROB to connect Rajgir Sports Complex-cum-Rajgir International Cricket Stadium. 

It also sanctioned ₹539.19 crore for construction of 19.43 km long Salepur-Narsanda-Telmar-Karauta road (upto 224 km of NH-30) which will be converted into a four-lane road instead of two-lane road. 

It also decided to celebrate the birth anniversary of late Upendra Nath Verma, educationist, social reformer, social worker, as “state function” every year on August 23 at a place where his statue has been installed on north west corner of Digghi talab in Gayaji town. 

The Cabinet also approved the list of holidays for the calendar year of 2026 which will be applicable in all the government offices and all the revenue magistrate’s courts.

There will be 24 holidays in 2026 declared under The Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 in Bihar. Besides, there will be one day holiday on April 1, 2026 for the annual bank closing holiday. 

There will be 22 holidays in 2026 as per the list of optional/restricted holidays.