East Champaran is decked up to receive chief minister Nitish Kumar as he embarks on his Seva Yatra to the district tentatively from April 19.

Nitish was supposed to visit the district as part of his Seva Yatra in December last year. But the programme got delayed for one reason after another. Each time the chief minister had planned a visit the district in the past four months, the administration made all necessary arrangements but the programme only got postponed.

However, after Monday’s visit of the secretary in-charge of the district, Sandeep Poundrik, to East Champaran, it seems that the decks have been cleared for the chief minister’s visit.

Poundrik, who is also in-charge of the social welfare department, held a review meeting with the district magistrate, Abhijit Sinha, and other senior officials.

Sinha said: “Poundrik presided over the meeting and reviewed all necessary preparations for the chief minister’s visit to the district as part of his Seva Yatra starting here this month. During the meeting, he tried to get maximum inputs about departments dealing with public welfare schemes of the government.”

Sinha said the welfare secretary expressed concerns over the number of pending public petitions filed under Right to Public Service Act of the state government. Nearly 15,000 public petitions are pending for disposal in various circle offices in the district.

Poundrik has directed for quick disposal of the pending petitions and ensure that students attend schools over the next few days. He has also asked for the improvement of the ranking of the district as far as children’s admission to schools is concerned. He also asked the administration to ensure proper implementation of the mid-day meal scheme.

The secretary of the social welfare department also gave specific directions to the officials to get ready with the latest feedback on the actions being taken by the administration about any irregularities found in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) as well as bicycle distribution and several other government schemes that are directly related with the welfare of the common people.

Poundrik also questioned the civil surgeon regarding the inadequate stock of medicines available with government hospitals and public health centres and directed the official to ensure that the stock of medicines at every small and big hospitals and health centres across the district was adequate.

He directed the district administration to distribute the remaining amount of Indira Awas Yojana among the beneficiaries by arranging special camps. He also mentioned other public welfare schemes such as students’ scholarship, family pension scheme under social security and Chief Minister’s Kanya Vivah and Kanya Suraksha Yojana.