Nitish Kumar asks officials to crack down on middlemen

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday directed a crack down against middlemen in development and welfare schemes so that the benefits could reach in their entirety to the people.

The state government will not tolerate the role of middlemen in government schemes and the district administration should launch a drive to crack down against them to ensure that benefits go in toto to the people, he said presiding over a review meeting on implementation of government schemes in Patna district.

Government officials and employees found to be hand in glove with the middlemen should also be caught and brought to justice, he said.

Nitish Kumar directed the crackdown against middlemen in development and welfare schemes so that the benefits could reach in their entirety to the people.

The magistrates and police chiefs of districts should treat the presence of middlemen in the government schemes as a serious challenge to the state government's endeavour to bring in transparency in governance and accordingly crack down against such elements, Kumar said.

He asked Bihar State Electricity Board to take stern action against the assistant and junior engineers and put them behind bars if they were found collecting transporation charge from consumers for changing damaged or burnt transformers.

He also directed BSEB to arrange a helpline number at the division and state government levels so that consumers could call to inform the authorities about damaged or burnt transformers in their areas and seek replacement.

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