Nitish Kumar and Kapil Sibal

Patna, Nov. 22: Clearing the hurdle on the path of setting up the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus in Kishanganj, the state government today put its seal on the proposal for allotting 224.02 acres of contiguous land to the varsity.

The land would be handed to the varsity administration soon free of cost. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting this evening.

“The piece of land earmarked for the varsity spreads over Chakla and Govindpur villages of Kishanganj. The revenue and land reforms department would soon transfer the plot to the human resource development department, which in turn would handover the land to AMU administration free of cost,” chief secretary Navin Kumar told reporters in the post-cabinet briefing.

The setting up of AMU campus had hit a roadblock after the university administration had rejected the state government’s offer to set up its campus on 243 acres of land that was not contiguous. Though the state government had offered to provide connectivity between the pieces of land, the AMU administration had rejected the proposal.

The idea of setting up the AMU campus in Bihar was first floated during the NDA I regime in the state. The state government had started the process of acquiring land soon after. But its effort was nullified when the AMU administration rejected the plot offered to it.

The state government had made a last-minute effort to resolve the issue. Bihar human resource development minister P.K. Shahi had urged the Centre to take up the matter earlier this month. But the Union government refused to take up the issue, claiming that such decisions were to be taken by the AMU administration.

Medical college

The cabinet meeting approved a proposal for constructing a medical college and a nursing college on the premises of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in the state capital at a cost of Rs 586 crore. The cabinet sanctioned Rs 25 crore for the 2011-12 financial year under this head.

The cabinet meet also approved the Bihar State Slum Policy, 2011. The policy has been made in accordance with the National Slum Policy, 2001.

According to the policy document, a place consisting of at least 20 poorly built houses without facility of drinking water and sanitation would be treated as a slum.

“The policy not only talks of improving the infrastructure of such places. It also has the talks of giving ownership rights to the slum dwellers,” said the chief secretary.

He said the policy also talks about providing livelihood facilities to the slum-dwellers.

In a relief to employees and pensioners still getting the benefit of old pay scale, the cabinet approved a proposal for upward revision of their dearness allowance from the existing 115 per cent to 127 per cent.

A total of 22 proposals were approved in today’s cabinet meeting.