Nitish lays foundation stone for cabin car ropeway

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today laid foundation stone for cabin car ropeway project at Ratnagiri hills at Rajgir, a popular tourist place in the state.
Speaking on the occasion, he stressed that there were no technical glitches in the ropeway project which might inconvenience tourists and recalled his own experience when he had got stuck with the then Himachal Pradesh chief minister on a cable car at Kalka-Shimla-Parwanoo.
Bihar has awarded the Rs 19.83 crore contract to Gurgaon-based Rites for construction of the nearly 800 metre-long ropeway on Ratnagiri hills.
Earlier, Kumar inspected another tourist destination called Ghora Katora and took a boat ride in the lake there with his poll strategist Prashant Kishore and others.

He directed construction of Lord Buddha's statue in the 50 feet area in the middle of the lake which the tourists can see from boats in 155-160 feet waterbody.
The opinion of religious experts will be sought for construction of the statue and beautification of Ghora Katora tourist site.

Kumar later presided over a review meeting of the forest and environment department and directed the principal secretary to the department, Vivek Kumar Singh to carry out intensive tree plantation between Rajgir and Jethian through which Lord Buddha is said to travelled on foot.
Reviewing the vigilance department, he directed its

officials to step up crack-down on corrupt public servants and expedite investigation in cases registered in the past for early disposal in courts.
In cases of vigilance traps against corrupt public servants, he said their trial should be dealt with along the lines of Arms Act for speedy trial, besides initiating steps for confiscation of properties amassed by corrupt public servants beyond their known sources of income.
On shortage of manpower in the department, Kumar directed it to hire retired CBI officers at the level of superintendent of police and take police officers on deputation against vacancies till recruitment.
To ensure transparency in governance, the Chief Minister directed filing of online annual details of properties and assets by government employees.