The Bihar cabinet has approved the proposal to buy a jet engine aircraft and an advanced helicopter for the movement of top political executives and senior bureaucrats, cabinet additional chief secretary S Siddharth said on Tuesday.
“The cabinet has decided to purchase a new jet engine plane (10+2-seater) and an advanced helicopter for the movement of VIPs and VVIPs,” Siddharth said talking to reporters after the cabinet meeting.
The proposal was prepared by the directorate of civil aviation (cabinet secretariat department, Bihar government).
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Siddharth said that the state cabinet in its meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar here on Tuesday approved the civil aviation department’s proposal to purchase the new aircraft for long-distance travel and a helicopter in place of the outdated aircraft and faulty chopper for the government’s use.
The said proposal was among the seven proposals that were discussed and approved by the cabinet.
“A high-level committee headed by the chief secretary would be constituted to finalise specifications, modalities to purchase and cost of the aircraft and the chopper, the chief secretary said, adding, “the committee will submit its report within three months.”
Siddharth, who also heads the civil aviation department, said the state currently has a six-seater propeller-powered aircraft (King Air C-90A/B-VTEBG) and a Dauphin make helicopter (Dauphin SA365N, VT-ENU), that suffer from mechanical faults and is being repaired.
The old aircraft and helicopter will be used for training and tourist purposes after thorough repair. The process to purchase the new jet engine plane and a helicopter will start once the committee submits its report to the government, Siddhart said.
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According to the official, the cabinet on Tuesday also approved the proposal to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the state’s building construction department and the National Informatics Center (NIC) for proper maintenance and development of the state’s different online services pertaining to building construction.
The NIC will also develop an online system for monitoring the execution of ongoing projects and managing the allocation of houses and collection of taxes in a transparent manner.
The cabinet gave its go-ahead to the industries department’s proposal to dole out financial assistance to three industrial units, namely Jayadayal Hightex Pvt Ltd, Patel Agri Industries Pvt Ltd and Bharat Urja Distilleries Pvt Ltd, under the industrial investment promotion policy for capacity expansion.
