Bihar to provide Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to family of non-corporate taxpayers for accident deaths

The Bihar government on Tuesday decided to provide ex gratia to the next of kin of non-corporate taxpayers in the event of the person's death in an accident.

The Cabinet approved the proposed Bihar Businessmen Accident Death Scheme, 2025, Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat) S Siddhartha told reporters.

''As per the proposal of the Commercial tax department, approved by the Cabinet, the state government will give Rs 5 lakh as ex-gratia to the next of the kin of a businessman (non-corporate taxpayer) if he/she dies in an accident, provided the businessman is the resident of Bihar or has registered his business in the state. Apart from benefiting the state's businessmen, it would also cover the GST taxpayers,'' he said.

In an attempt to bring uniformity in Value Added Tax (VAT) rate on natural gas, the Cabinet approved a proposal to standardize tax rates on domestic and commercial sales of CNG and PNG. The companies will now be able to supply CNG and PNG at lower prices by paying the revised tax.

''The government believes that this uniformity in VAT rates will not only provide relief to consumers but will also be a major step towards pollution control,'' he said.

The Cabinet also approved a one-time honorarium of Rs 6,000 for Booth Level Officers (BLOs) engaged in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar.

''The state government will give a one-time honorarium of Rs 6,000 to 77,895 BLOs and 8245 Supervisors who are part of the SIR exercise. A total of Rs 51.68 crore was sanctioned for the purpose by the Cabinet,'' he said.

Besides, the Cabinet sanctioned Rs 80 crore for the purchase and installation of machinery, equipment, tools and computers for workshops and laboratories in the 46 government polytechnic colleges run by the state Science, Technology and Technical Education department.

The cabinet also sanctioned an estimated Rs 7,832.29 crore for expansion, renovation and modernisation work of Western Kosi Canal Project, he said, adding that the project is expected to be completed by the end of March 2029.

''On the completion of the project, it is expected to benefit 16 blocks of Darbhanga district and 20 blocks of Madhubani district. The project's cultivable command area (Krishi Yogya Command Kshetra) is 2,15,672 hectares and annual irrigation capacity is 2,91,158,'' he said.

The cabinet also approved Rs 5,119 crore for the development of Munger (Safiyabad)-Bariyarpur-Ghorghat-Sultanganj (42 km) and Rs 4,849 crore for Sultanganj-Bhagalpur-Sabour(40.80 km) under the Ganga Path Project that will be executed on Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM).

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)