Bihar first state to make officials' assets public

Bihar has become the first state in the country to make assets of government employees' public by uploading the details of 80,000 officials on its website.

Ten days after majority of the 4,50,000 government officials, including Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) officers in the state, submitted their assets' details to the state government as per an official directive, it was uploaded on the government official website late Wednesday.

"As of now, details of the assets of nearly 80,000 government officials are available online, it is first of its kind in the country," Deepak Kumar, principal secretary of general administration department, said.

He said it will take a month's time to upload details of all the officials.

According to him, asset details of 190 IAS officers, 169 IPS officers, 29 Indian Forest officers, 2,800 BPSC officers and 350 Bihar Police Service officers are online.

"It is a part of (Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar's initiatives to weed out corruption," an official in the chief minister's office said.

Soon after assuming office following a historic poll verdict last November, Nitish Kumar had announced that corruption will not be tolerated in the state.

Setting an example, the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues had declared their assets on December 31, 2010. The details are posted on the state government's official website.

The state government in its circular earlier this year warned officials that their salaries would be withheld if they fail to furnish the details of their assets within the stipulated time frame.

Bihar is also working to confiscate the properties of corrupt officials and turn it into primary schools.