Bihar Cabinet Approves Rs 23,165 Crore Grant For Electricity Consumers Through RBI For The Next One Year

Patna: The Bihar government approved Rs 23,165 crore as a grant for electricity consumers under the ‘Mukhyamantri Vidyut Upbhokta Sahayata Yojana’ for the financial year 2026-27. A decision in this regard was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Wednesday.

Under this scheme, Rs 18,005 crore at a rate of over Rs 1,500 crore per month between April 2026 and March 2027 would be provided directly to the NTPC through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), while the remaining Rs 5,160 crore would be provided to the Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited.

In another major decision, the cabinet approved Rs 3,602 crore for the operation and maintenance of 29,933 drinking water supply schemes in an equal number of wards for the next five years. This includes wards where groundwater quality is affected by arsenic, iron, fluoride and other types of contamination.

The funds will also be used to implement Internet of Things (IoT)-based supervision and monitoring of the schemes. The operation and maintenance of these water supply schemes ended on March 31 this year.

In the marathon cabinet that took up and discussed 64 agendas, in-principle approval was given to the Bihar State Road Development Corporation to acquire the services of DPR (detailed project report) consultants and transaction advisors for the 90 km-long Buxar – Ara – Maner Ganga Path (road along the Ganga); the 73.5km-long Darihara (Kolhua) – Dumaria Ghat (Gopalganj) four-lane greenfield road, and the 56km-long Bidupur (Vaishali) to Dighwara (Saran) north Ganga road.

These road projects, expected to boost infrastructure and tourism development, will be constructed under the PPP (DBFOT) mode. DBFOT is a type of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) used for infrastructure projects (mostly highways) where a private entity is responsible for the entire project lifecycle – Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer – before returning it to the government.

The cabinet also approved the proposal to change the name of the famous Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park in the state capital to 'Patna Zoo’ and to change the name of the society that operates and manages it to the Patna Zoo Management and Development Society. The zoo opened to the public in 1973 and is considered one of the largest and most diverse zoos in the country.

In yet another major decision, the cabinet approved Rs 104 crore to begin establishing degree colleges in 208 blocks that currently lack such a government educational institution. The money will be provided at the rate of Rs 50 lakh per college. A total of 9,152 posts for college teachers and non-teaching staff will also be created to run these colleges.

The cabinet also approved the rules pertaining to the implementation of the Act to take over the property of the erstwhile Bettiah Raj.

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