The cabinet on Tuesday approved conversion of Bihar State Housing Board's 'lease-hold properties' into 'free-hold properties' with a one-time conversion fee.

'The cabinet approved the urban development and housing department's proposal to amend Section 115 of the Bihar State Housing Board Act, 1982, allowing conver-sion of lease-hold properties into free-hold,' principal secretary, cabinet secretariat, B. Pradhan told reporters. The decision would be applicable from the date of notification, he added.

Till now, the board allotted flats, plots and houses on 90 or 99 years of lease. A leased property is owned by the lessee for a fixed period after which the allottee gets back the ownership of the property. In case of a free-hold property, the ownership is on a permanent basis. The urban development department has allotted properties in colonies such as Lohianagar, Kankerbagh and Sri Krishna Nagar on free-hold basis.

Among the 18 decisions taken at the meeting chaired by chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the cabinet extended the number of days of maternity leave from 135 to 180 for government employees. Women government employees would enjoy anothertwo years (730 days) of child care leave. Under the Bihar Service Rules, women employees at present do not get a single day as child care leave.

In another decision, the cabinet approved a private investment proposal to set up a distillery and Indian-made foreign liquor unit in Bhojpur district.

'According to the proposal of Chandigarh-based M/s Bihar Distillers and Bottlers Pvt. Ltd, the company would set up an unit in Bhojpur district's Devari village (around 60k west of Patna). It would entail an investment of Rs 160 crore,' added Pradhan.

The molasses/grain-based first unit would produce 660kl a day, while a second unit would have an annual production capacity of 24 lakh cases of Indian-made foreign liquor. The company would arrange 29 acres on its own, Pradhan said, adding that 320 skilled and unskilled people would enjoy employment opportunities at the plant.

The cabinet approved the industries department's proposal to set up a rural agricultural business centre based dry warehouse to store paddy and wheat, apart from extending the tenure of the judicial commission investigating the Bagaha police firing of 2013. The term has been extended by six months, from January 5, 2015 to July 4, 2015.