PATNA
Of the 17 newly appointed ministers in the state during cabinet expansion in February, 11 possess weapons like rifle, pistol and revolver, costing ₹50,000 to ₹4 lakh, as per their affidavits uploaded in the cabinet secretariat department website on Friday.
In terms of movable and immovable assets, richer ministers’ worth range from ₹2 crore to ₹7 crore, and leading the lot are water resources minister Sanjay Jha, science and technology minister Sumit Singh, excise minister Sunil Kumar, labour resources minister Jibesh Kumar and panchayati raj minister Samrat Choudhary.
Industries minister Shahnawaj Hussain, road construction minister Nitin Navin and rural development minister Sharavan Kumar are poorer than their spouses.
While Hussain owns assets worth ₹22 lakh, his wife has net assets worth around ₹1.78 crore. Sharavan Kumar’s wife has net assets worth around ₹1.16 crore while Kumar himself owns assets worth ₹1 crore. Nitin Navin’s assets are worth around ₹22 lakh while his wife’s assets are worth around ₹51 lakh.
Ministers Subhash Singh, Samrat Choudhary, Pramod Kumar, Shravan Kumar, Ram Surat Kumar,Leshi Singh , Janak Ram, Jayant Raj, Narayan Prasad, Sumit Kumar Singh and Mohammed Zama Khan own guns and revolvers.
{{/usCountry}}Ministers Subhash Singh, Samrat Choudhary, Pramod Kumar, Shravan Kumar, Ram Surat Kumar,Leshi Singh , Janak Ram, Jayant Raj, Narayan Prasad, Sumit Kumar Singh and Mohammed Zama Khan own guns and revolvers.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, 14 ministers, including chief minister Nitish Kumar, had submitted their affidavits pertaining to their assets soon after the government formation in November last year after the NDA returned to power in the Assembly polls.
At present, there are 31 ministers, including the CM, against the maximum number of 36 ministers permissible as per the strength of the state Assembly.
Recently, state officials from different cadres of services have also submitted their assets declarations through affidavits as per government norms.