Nitish Kumar seeks development assistance of Rs 1.07 lakh crore from PM Modi

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has sought special developmental assistance of over Rs one lakh crore from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pointing to an estimated 'loss' of Rs 50,000 crore to the state due to the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission.

"In the light of the budget speech of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that Bihar will get special financial assistance on the pattern of one given to Andhra Pradesh after its bifurcation, we expect the Union government to provide finance to the tune of Rs 1,07,887 crore for different projects," Kumar said in a memorandum, which he handed over to the Prime Minister at a meeting at Delhi yesterday.

The nine-page memorandum, a copy of which was made available to the media here today, the Bihar CM sought special financial assistance for projects in six departments - Rural Works, Road Construction, Agriculture, Panchayati Raj, Urban Development and Tourism.

A sum of Rs 32,600 crore was demanded for connecting habitats having population of 250 and more in all districts with all weather roads, which would be of 41,380 km.

In the Road Construction department, he sought Rs 8,148 crore for constructing a bridge on Ganga near Kachhi dargah with approach roads.

In the Agriculture sector, Kumar demanded Rs 41,587 crore for promoting food processing, storage, farm research and cooperative among others.