Legislature working days to be increased in Bihar: Minister

Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, Feb 6 (UNI) The Bihar government has decided to increase the number of working days of the state legislature.

The number of working days will be increased from the Budget session commencing February 22, Bihar Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ramshray Prasad Singh told reporters after visiting the famed Sai Baba temple at Shirdi in this district.

Mr Singh said ever since the Nitish Kumar government took over on November 11, 2005, the Budget Session in Bihar is held for 35 days while other sessions last for 20 days. Earlier, during the reign of the RJD, the sessions used to be held only for ten days, he said.

''We propose to hold the sessions for 70 days,'' Mr Singh said. He said the government was also considering implementation of the proposal ''koi karya nahin, koi bhatta nahin (no allowance if there is no work). He pointed out that huge amounts of public money is spent on holding Parliament and legislature sessions and if no work is accomplished during the sessions, then this amount goes waste.

Mr Singh said the Bihar government was also considering to implement ''Yuva Sansad Yojana'', a scheme which will allow school and college students to study and conduct research on the working of the legislature.

Meanwhile, Mr Singh, while referring to the river networking project in Bihar, said work on preparing detailed project reports on 18 schemes have been initiated and six of them would be implemented by the year end. Mr Singh noted that river networking holds much promise for Bihar since South Bihar is plagued by droughts while North Bihar reels under floods.

Mr Singh condemned the attack on North Indians in Maharashtra and urged all political parties to take cognizance of the situation and provide protection to the community. He regreted that such a thing happened in Maharashtra which is a ''santo ki bhoomi (land of saints)''.

UNI XR MAZ YA DS1550