Patna, May 30: Delegates at the Planning Commission regional consultation meet were presented with Madhubani paintings by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today.

The paintings, brought from Mithilanchal in Bihar, were gifted to Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Union minister of state for planning Ashwani Kumar and other delegates who attended the first session of the meet at Samvad Bhavan in the Bihar capital.

Officials of Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are attending the two-day-long meet convened by the Planning Commission to discuss issues regarding the Twelfth Five-Year Plan.

Madhubani painting is a traditional art. Women of Madhubani town and surrounding villages make these paintings on different media like cloth, paper and canvas.

Sources said the delegates were at first surprised to receive the gifts and some even thought that these were bed sheets. Later, officials explained to them that those were rural artwork.

Patnaik thanked Nitish Kumar for the gift.

Jaya Das Gupta, additional chief secretary, development and planning department, Bengal government, said: “The painting is really beautiful.” She also said that though she had heard about Madhubani paintings she never imagined them to be so beautiful.

Sources said Nitish had chosen the Madhubani paintings as gifts for the delegates, as these depict the art and culture of the state. These paintings depict the various elements in nature and Hindu gods and goddesses.