15,000 schools to be opened in Bihar

Patna, Mar 9 (UNI) Amidst walkout by opposition on the issue of appointment of Urdu teachers and Lok Sikshaks, the Bihar Assembly today passed the budget of Human Resource Development and Youth and Culture Departments through voice vote.

Replying to the debate on budgetary demands, state Human Resource Development Minister Brishen Patel said 2.36 lakhs teachers would be recruited while 1.36 teachers would be appointed during the current year.He said that 15000 new primary schools would be opened in the state.

Earlier, opposition alleged that a large chunk of fund received from the national and international agencies for AIDS control were being misutilised. On a short notice question of BJP member Bhola Prasad Singh, state Health Minister Chandramohan Rai said the state government was considering a proposal to spend the AIDS control fund through district health committee instead of state AIDS control committee as was currently in practice.

Mr Rai said that during 2001-06, the state government had provided Rs 4.23 crores to various voluntary organisations to carry out the AIDS control programmes and 28 district magistrates had described their performance as satisfactory.

Dissatisfied with the reply of the Health Minister, RJD member Ramchandra Purve, CPM member Ramdev Verma, LJP member Maheshwar Singh and Samajwadi Party MP Gopal Agarwal demanded for constitution of a house committee to inquire into the matter.

Amid noisy scenes created by the opposition over the issue, state Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said the state government would hand over the matter to Legislative Forum on AIDS for thorough inquiry.

After that speaker Udai Narain Chaudhary ordered the state government to get the matter inquired from Legislative Forum on AIDS on all the points of suspicion.

UNI