Patna: (ABN) The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar approved 41 major proposals related to various departments of the state. After nearly 53 years, the cabinet resolved the long-pending dispute over the distribution of Son River water between Bihar and Jharkhand. After the cabinet meeting, Additional Chief Secretary of the Cabinet, Arvind Chaudhary, said that according to the 1973 Bansagar agreement, undivided Bihar was entitled to 7.75 million acre-feet of water.

After the division of the state in 2000, Jharkhand was demanding an agreement on water distribution between the two states, and this issue had prevented Bihar from participating in the Indrapuri Reservoir Water Project. Even after finalizing the water distribution formula for Bihar, the issue was not resolved. However, after negotiations during the meeting of the Eastern Regional Council in Ranchi on July 10, 2025, both states agreed that out of the 7.75 million acre-feet of water, Bihar would get 5.75 acre-feet and Jharkhand would get 2.00 acre-feet of water. The Council of Ministers approved the draft of the agreement reached between Bihar and Jharkhand today.

This decision will pave the way for the long-pending Indrapuri Reservoir Water Project and provide temporary irrigation facilities in Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad, Patna, and Gaya districts, along with Arwal district. Additionally, the cabinet approved a proposal to provide electricity to the citizens of Patna city through underground cabling. The project will cost a total of Rs 653 crore. Under the scheme, electricity will be provided through underground cabling in 13 divisions under PESU.

The Nitish cabinet approved Rs 14,855 million for 789 secondary and higher secondary government schools for 2025-26. This amount will be used to promote modern teaching, skills, innovations, and technical literacy among students from grades 6 to 12 in 789 selected secondary and higher secondary schools under the central-sponsored PM Shri scheme, in accordance with the National Education Policy 2020.

The Council of Ministers approved the construction of a 220 kV D/C transmission line to ensure uninterrupted and standard power supply to the Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMC), Gaya project, under the jurisdiction of the Bihar State Power Transmission Company Limited. The line will be constructed from the 400/220/132 kV Chandauti (PMTL) grid sub-station to IMC, Gaya. A new scheme worth Rs 33.29 crore was approved for this purpose. Additionally, an amendment to the Bihar Motor Vehicle Rules, 1992, was approved, which changes the minimum educational qualification required to issue a conductor license from 10th pass to 8th pass.

The cabinet approved the reorganization/creation of 694 posts. After surrendering/transfer of 293 approved posts in various offices under the Department of Agriculture, 194 Plant Protection Supervisors and 99 Plant Protection Inspectors were created under the Bihar Agricultural Subordinate Service Category-05 (Plant Protection) cadre. A total of 694 posts were also reorganized/created. Additionally, the cabinet approved the creation of a non-cadre post of Advisor to the Department of Forests and Environment for a period of three years to deal with environmental issues.

The Council of Ministers approved the identification and reorganization of 200 approved posts of Office Attendant cadre under the Fisheries Directorate, as per the notification of the General Administration Department. The revised notification related to the Bihar Executive (Amendment) Rules, 2025, was also approved ex-post facto. The Council of Ministers approved the "Bihar Anand Marriage Registration Rules, 2025" for the registration of marriages held through the Anand Marriage Act, 1909 (amended in 2012), in Bihar.

The Council of Ministers also approved Rs 314.20 crore (three hundred fourteen crore twenty-nine lakh twenty-nine thousand rupees) for the construction of Bihar Bhavan in Mumbai. These decisions are considered significant steps towards the development, administrative convenience, and public welfare of the state. To ensure better management and timely implementation of schemes run by the Directorate of Public Education, approval was given to surrender eight existing posts and create nine new posts with necessary amendments to the posts.

The Bihar State Cooperative Bank was decided to be given a loan of Rs 7,000 crore from the National Cooperative Development Corporation, NABARD, and other financial institutions for procurement work during the Kharif marketing season 2025-26 and Rabi marketing season 2026-27, and a state guarantee was decided to be provided for the loans disbursed by the Cooperative Bank. The administrative approval of the compensation amount has been given. An amount of Rs 138.82 crore has been approved for the acquisition of 50.0004 acres of land for the construction of a logistics park and cargo hub near the Darbhanga airport.

Additionally, the pay scale of the Court Manager of the Patna High Court was reduced from Level-13 to Level-9, and the pay scale of the Court Manager of the state's civil courts was revised to Level-8. The state decided to advance Rs 30 crore from the State Emergency Fund to the Bihar Advocates Welfare Trust Committee for the welfare of lawyers in the state. The creation of four Law Assistant posts on an honorary and contract basis in the Patna High Court and the conversion of 45 existing Law Clerk posts to Law Assistant posts were also approved.

Amending a prior approval order issued by the Department of Science, Technology, and Technical Education, "Computer-Aided Custom Design and Dress Making" was approved in place of "Custom Design and Dress Making Technology". Additionally, approval was given to create a total of 106 posts for the newly approved Government Polytechnic, Bagaha (West Champaran), including 45 teaching and 61 non-teaching posts.