PATNA: At least 12 cabinet colleagues of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar owned various arms and ammunition despite security provided to them by the state government, as per the latest update of assets declared by ministers on December 31.
There are 30 ministers, including the chief minister and two deputy chief ministers, in the Nitish cabinet.
According to the update of assets declared, both the deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Kumar Sinha, Kedar Gupta, Renu Devi, Sumit Kumar Singh, Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu, Sharawan Kumar, Ashok Choudhary, Mangal Pandey, Janak Ram, Santosh Kumar Suman, Krishnandan Paswan and Jayant Raj owned arms like rifles, guns, pistols and revolvers.
Cooperative department minister Prem Kumar possessed a gun, a rifle and a revolver. Similarly, Lesi Singh, food and consumer protection, has a gun and a rifle. Rural works department minister Ashok Choudhary possessed a revolver while his cabinet colleague and ST welfare department minister Janak Ram owned a rifle and a revolver. Education Minister Sunil Kumar and IT Department Minister Santosh Kumar Suman owned only revolvers.
Other ministers owning weapons are Public health and Engineering Department Minister Neeraj Kumar Singh Bablu, Rural Works Department Sharawan Kumar, Science and Technology Department Minister Sumit Kumar Singh and Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Resources Minister Renu Devi. These ministers have rifles and revolvers each.
Sugarcane department minister Krishnanandan Paswan has a rifle issued in his name. Building Construction Department minister Jayant Raj owned a rifle and a pistol. Panchayati Raj department minister Kedar Prasad Gupta has a revolver and a gun. Health Minister Mangal Pandey is the owner of a rifle.
According to the information made public, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has a rifle of a .6 bore, which costs Rs 4 lakh.
Interestingly, the wives of several ministers are not lagging in keeping licensed weapons.
As per a tradition started by Chief Minister Nitish in 2011, every minister has to make details of their assets public on the last date of the year. This year also, the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues made these startling disclosures.