BPSC to appoint Assistant engineer: Cabinet clears 3% DA hike serving, retired govt staff

Bihar cabinet approved 3% hike in dearness allowance (DA) to all serving and retired employees and officers of the state government. About 8 lakh serving government staff and pensioners would be getting DA at the rate of 12%, effective from January this year.

Allaying the fears of engineering service officers, the state cabinet on Tuesday approved the road construction department (RCD)’s proposal for appointment of assistant engineers through the competitive examination conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).

BPSC to appoint assistant engineers (HT)

After setting up the Bihar Engineering Service Commission (BESC) in 2017, the government was contemplating using the commission for recruitment of engineers by discontinuing the prevailing practice of appointment through the BPSC. Bihar Engineering Service Association (BESA) had been protesting the move.

Sanjay Kumar, principal secretary of cabinet secretariat department said the rules for appointment of assistant engineers of the RCD were amended to pave way for their appointment through the BPSC. The BPSC would select the candidates through a competitive examination based on objective questions only. Earlier, subjective questions carried the maximum marks in the recruitment tests.

In another important decision, the cabinet approved 3% hike in dearness allowance (DA) to all serving and retired employees and officers of the state government. About 8 lakh serving government staff and pensioners would be getting DA at the rate of 12%, effective from January this year. The exercise would cost the state exchequer an additional ₹11.94 crore annually.

The cabinet also announced that the science and technology department would soon appoint about 2,067 teaching and non-teaching staff to ensure quality teaching in the upcoming polytechnic and engineering colleges. Of the total, 1,133 will be hired for teaching purposes. The cabinet also sanctioned creation of additional posts in the department to look after the affairs of newly created engineering colleges and polytechnic institutions.

The technical institutes set to benefit from latest recruitment drives include newly formed polytechnic institutes at Arwal, Bhojpur and Jehanabad, besides engineering colleges coming up at Munger, Jehanabad, Madhubani, Lakhisarai, Khagaria, Sheohar, Nawada, Kaimur, West Champaran, Araria, Aurangabad, Arwal, Siwan, Gupalganj, Samastipur and Kishanganj.

The long-awaited plan of the home department to install close circuit television (CCTV) cameras across the state capital will now be implemented by the Patna smart city limited. The state government has allocated ₹110 crore to execute the plan, which the officials said, would help the police curb the incidents of eve-teasing. CCTV cameras will also be set up around Patna railway station, which is under the jurisdiction of the government rail police.

The cabinet also cleared the education department’s proposal to clear financial benefits of revised salaries to colleges and universities, as per UGC guidelines. January 2016 has been chosen as the cutoff date which will be taken into consideration for implementation of this decision.

The cabinet also did away with the provision of imposing high charges on registration of divided properties belonging to the same family but located at different locations. Earlier, family members had to pay ₹5,000 on registration of each property if they were registered out of the same district.