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Take effective steps to curb crime, Nitish tells District Magistrates

Patna: Determined to make Bihar crime-free, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday asked District Magistrates to take effective steps to curb crime and said the onus of keeping law and order is more on the DMs than the Superintendents of Police.

"Since District Magistrates are head of the districts they are more responsible than the SPs for maintenance of law and order," he said, in a video-conference address to the district magistrates and divisional commissioners.

The maintenance of law of and order was the DMs' primary responsibility and for this they should hold regular courts and ensure speedy disposal of land related disputes, Chief Secretary G.S. Kang, who presided over the meeting after Mr. Kumar left the venue midway due to ill health, said.

Mr. Kumar also said he had directed the officials to ensure immediate barricading of graveyards for which funds had already been made available to the districts. The DMs were also asked to implement the state-sponsored Bihar Gramin Rojgar Gurantee Yojna in 15 districts on the pattern of National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme so that 100 days work in a year could be provided to people living below the poverty line, the Chief Secretary said.

On the arrangements made for the upcoming panchayat election in Bihar, Mr. Kumar said if a single voter was prevented from casting his/her vote, the very purpose of good governance would be defeated.

All the booths during the pachayat election would be manned by armed policemen, Mr. Kang said.

It was also decided at the meeting to link 6903 villages with population of 500 or more with all-weather roads in the next three to four years and also to streamline the public distribution system, he added. -- PTI

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Take effective steps to curb crime, Nitish tells District Magistrates

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