Nitish to set up Ombudsman to make Bihar graft-free

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said his government would set up ‘a transparent Ombudsman’ to completely weed out corruption from Bihar.

“We will be setting up a transparent Ombudsman to fully uproot corruption in Bihar... It will be actually a vigilance committee with people’s participation which will keep close surveillance on the functioning of representatives and officials of local bodies in panchayats,” Mr. Kumar told reporters after the state cabinet meet.

Asserting that panchayat elections held in Bihar in 2006 and 2011 were ‘fully impartial’, Mr. Kumar said the transparent ombudsman would take immediate action against ’erring’ representatives of officials of local bodies.

Mr. Kumar said his government decided to implement the Right to Service Act from June 15.

“The officials will be trained for providing the services and public education will be imparted,” he said.

On his visit to New Delhi later in the day, Kumar said during his visit he would meet Union Water Resources Minister Salman Khursheed to request him to facilitate bilateral talks with Nepal to solve the problems relating to river Kosi in Kusaha.

He said he would also meet former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and request him to ensure that the works continued on a war-footing on the Nalanda International University (NIU).

On completion of two years of UPA-II at Centre, Mr. Kumar said it was a matter of great concern that the union government had not yet accorded the special State category to Bihar.

Affirming his sole demand remained that the state be accorded special status, chief minister said he would once again rake up the issue during the proposed regional conference of the Planning Commission here on May 30 and May 31.