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The Nitish Kumar Government has decided to scrap the existing allocation of funds for Local Area Development (LAD) scheme for Bihar MLAs and MLCs in an attempt to get rid of corruption. This was reportedly decided at a meeting of the state cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the State Secretariat. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi was also present in the meeting. The Chief Minister is reported to have brought the issue into notice at a meeting held recently of the legislators belonging to the National Democratic Alliance. Speaking to the media about the decision taken in the two-hour long meeting, State Cabinet and Coordination Department's Principal Secretary Afzal Amanullah said the cabinet decided in principle to scrap allocation of LAD funds for MLAs and MLCs. "The next cabinet meeting scheduled to take place on December 14 will discuss an alternative scheme. The decision was taken in the light of charges of corruption being raised from several quarters," said Amanullah. "The cabinet accepted recommendations of the Padmanabhan Committee for Bihar Judicial Service (BJS) officers on grant of benefits, allowances and other facilities," he added. Sushil Modi would be minister in-charge cum Chairman of Patna district as per the new notification, while Vijay Kumar Choudhary would be the new minister in-charge for Bhojpur and Buxar.

Bihar to scrap fund allocation for MLAs, MLCs' Local Area Development scheme