A fortnight into his overwhelming victory, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s regime is ushering in the change he promised. In two significant achievements in the battle against corruption, the state last week decided in principle to scrap the Rs 1 crore Local Area Development Fund allotted to MLAs and MLCs, and acting under his Bihar Special Courts Act, 2010, a court gave its first order to confiscate property worth Rs 44 lakh belonging to an official accused of corruption.
Come April, the CM, ministers, bureaucrats and officials, down to Class III government employees, will declare their assets, while the Budget Session would see the Assembly pass a Right to Service Bill to ensure time-bound service to citizens.
The Bihar Cabinet decided in principle on Friday to scrap the MLA/MLC annual fund, facing few objections, with even the poll-chastened RJD expressing its “full backingâ€. The fund has been seen as a major source of corruption, with each legislator accused of cornering up to 30 per cent of the Rs 1 crore by giving contracts of development works in his/her constituency to the favoured few.
Said a senior government officer: “MLAs will now only have powers to recommend work in their Assembly segments. The fund may be routed through the districts concerned and district magistrates alone would decide the executive agencies or contractors for the development work.â€
Cabinet Secretary Afzal Amanullah said the final nod would come next week, after they had agreed on an alternative to the fund. Bihar has 243 MLAs and 75 MLCs.