Patna: Bihar government on Monday hiked the junior resident doctors` stipend by 20 per cent at Rs 30,000 per month as against Rs 25,000 earlier, an official said.
The decision in this regard was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Principal Secretary (Cabinet Coordination and Secretariat) Ravikant told reporters.
The junior resident doctors studying post-graduation medical course will receive a monthly stipend of Rs 30,000 as against Rs 25,000 earlier, he said.
The state government will have to bear an additional recurring expenditure of Rs 6.43 crore following stipend raise for junor resident doctors, Ravikant said.
The junior resident doctors at various government medical colleges have been pressing for reasonable hike in their stipend and had agitated on the issue in the past.
In another major decision, the state government approved Rs 92 crores for providing honorarium to the representatives of the three-tier panchayati raj institutions and ordered immediate release of Rs 50 crore for the purpose, he said.
The state government also decided to hike the VAT rate on tobacco and tobacco products, except bidi from 13.5 per cent to 20 per cent on all category of such products, he said.
It sought to give relief to the consumers, it has exempted from VAT the products like broom, lamp black for use on eyes, sewai, water chestnut and its flour, he said.
PTI
