Nitish Kumar only has Rs.14,475 in cash

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has lower assets than most of his cabinet colleagues.

According to details of movable and immovable assets declared by the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues for 2012, Nitish Kumar has Rs.14,475 in cash. The amount was Rs.46,974 in 2011.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has Rs.20,000 in cash while tourism minister Sunil Kumar Pintu has Rs.8,74,000.

The cash held by Public Relations Minister Brishen Patel is Rs.4 lakh while the amount is Rs.5,000 for Industry Minister Renu Kumari and Rs.80,000 for Food & Consumer Protection Minister Shyam Razak.

Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav has Rs.60,000 in cash while Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra has Rs.96,992.

The list of Nitish Kumar's other assets are more or less the same as declared last year.

These include a house in Sansad Vihar in New Delhi valued at Rs.40 lakh and moveable assets worth Rs.6.15 lakh, a 2003 model car, an old TV set, an old air conditioner, a refrigerator, a cooler and some cows, a computer, a treadmill and a bank loan.

The chief minister has also disclosed assets of his only son Nishant, which includes land at ancestral Kalyanbigha village. But Nishant has more assets than his father.

Sushil Kumar Modi has assets worth over Rs.1 crore.

The richest member of the Bihar cabinet is P.K. Shahi, a lawyer, who declared assets worth over Rs.5 crore.

This was the third occasion when details of assets of 29 Bihar ministers were uploaded on the government website as a step towards transparency. - IANS