Eight Bihar officers nominated for PM's award

Eight Bihar officers, including five IAS officers, have been nominated for the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration for 2012-13.

Official sources said the officers nominated for the award include development commissioner A K Sinha, agriculture secretary N Vijay Lakshmi, director of the Bihar administrative reforms mission and principal secretary to the general administration department (GAD) Dipak Kumar and its additional director B Rajendra.

Sinha has been nominated for his contribution in boosting paddy cultivation as agriculture production commissioner. Lakshmi, Director (Agriculture) Arvinder Singh and farm scientist Ajit Kumar Jha have also been nominated along with Sinha.

Dipak Kumar has been nominated for effective implementation of the Right to Services (RTS) Act in the state.

Besides them, Chanchal Kumar, secretary to chief minister Nitish Kumar, has been nominated for efficiently handling 'Jaankari,' a Bihar government initiative wherein technology has been used to bring RTI to the masses, the sources said.

Secretary of the Bihar Road Construction Department, Prataya Amrit would be conferred with the award for turning around the loss-making Bihar Pul Raj Nirman Nigam.