Lord Buddha's urn to be kept at 'right place': Nitish

Patna, Jun 25 (UNI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the 'Urn' of Lord Buddha would be kept at right place and at right time.

Talking to newspersons here, Mr Kumar said, '' We will not work under pressure to such frivolous demand of immediately placing the urn at Vaishali. '' Mr Kumar lambasted the political leaders making it an issue and alleged that those, who were making hue and cry in the name of emotional attachment of the people of Vaishali with the Urn of Lord Buddha, hardly did anything substantial in this direction even after remaining in power for 15 years.

He said currently the Urn was at a safe place and would be kept at the right place at right time.

Clarifying the NDA's stand on President A P J Abdul Kalam's candidature, he said since Dr Kalam refused to contest and being part of the NDA, the JD(U) supported the candidacy of Vice-President Bhairaon Singh Shekhawat.

Mr Kumar invited Dr Kalam to be a visiting faculty member in Nalanda University as he was the person behind reopening of the university by initiating a debate in the entire nation.

Mr Kumar said, '' I would request Dr Kalam to kindly accept the invitation as I wish to see him as a visiting personality of the university and it would be like my dream come true. '' Exasperated with the comments made by some leaders regarding the President, he said Dr Kalam was respected by the entire nation irrespective of differences.

Mr Kumar reiterated that the government had made suitable arrangements for redressal of the grievances of common people at the earliest. He appealed to the fourth estate to play constructive role in transformation of the society.

To a query regarding land reforms, he said the government was concentrating for permanent settlement of land-relatd issues and the Land reform Commission was set up to look into the matters.

When asked about Bhagalpur riot victims and conviction of 14 accused, he said this was the outcome of fast trial by the NDA government to bring the case to logical end.

He added the state government had requested the UPA government at the Centre to grant compensation to the riot victims on the pattern of 1984 Sikh riot victims.

A cell had been established to look into the grievances of the riot victims so that their concerns must not be jeopardised by anti-social elements, he added.

Asked about state government's stake for NIPER (National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research), he said there should be no confusion regarding its location. It would be located at Hajipur and it would be set up at the behest of both the Centre and the state with maximum stake of the state government, which was providing land.

UNI