Talking to reporters Principal Secretary (Cabinet Coordination and Secretariat) Ravikant said the hike in the entry tax on goods such as coal, computer hardware, steel and plastic pipes, vanaspati, telephone sets and spare parts, stone chips and boulder, tractor and plyboard, will enable the State government to even out its revenue losses on account of differential rate of entry tax and VAT on different goods.

The cabinet also approved a proposal by the panchayati raj department for conducting of bypolls to fill 1,917 vacant posts of mukhiyas, sarpanches and members of the gram panchyat, gram kuchheri and zila parishad on December 20 next.

The State government sanctioned an additional grant of Rs 19.42 crore for development of centres of excellence at 19 government colleges in Bihar in the first phase, he said.

It also approved a proposal to transfer 0.28 acre land in Thakurganj circle in Kishanganj district to the Union Home Ministry on payment of Rs four lakh for setting up a campus for SSB 36 batallion. The cabinet further sanctioned Rs 26.46 crore as the State’s share to the Centre’s rural cleanliness scheme for construction of 24,582 units of toilets in government schools spread over 33 districts at a rate of Rs 10,500 per unit.