PATNA: Governor Lalji Tandon on Monday said the rate of cognizable offences in Bihar was very low compared to national average and there has been an effective check on organized crime in the state.Addressing the joint session of Bihar legislature on the opening day of the Budget session , Tandon quoted the latest data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and said Bihar registered only 157.4 cognizable offences against the national average of 233.6 such incidents on per one lakh people.However, the last NCRB figures are related to cases in 2016.Quoting the NCRB data, the governor also said Bihar stood at 22nd position among all states and union territories in the rate of crime. He said majority of cases of serious crime that took place in 2018 were solved by the police and the accused had been punished through legal process. The accused in altogether 3,650 cases were sentenced in 2018, he said.“Providing a society free from fear by establishing the rule of law is the topmost priority of the state government. Several steps have been taken to strengthen the policing system and maintain law and order,” he said.Tandon also said the state government was committed to its ‘zero tolerance’ policy against corruption. So far, proposals to confiscate properties under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 131 cases have been sent to the Enforcement Directorate. These proposals involve properties worth more than Rs256 crore, he said.CM Nitish Kumar, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi , leader of opposition in the Council Rabri Devi were present during the joint session held at the recently inaugurated central hall. However, the leader of opposition in assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was conspicuous by his absence. His elder brother Tej Pratap, however, was present in the joint session.Flanked by Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary and acting chairman of Legislative Council Haroon Rashid, the governor also told the joint session that the government had so far distributed Rs909 crore as education loan under the Student Credit Card scheme among 32,683 eligible students.He said the self-assistance allowance to the tune of Rs256.71 crore had been distributed so far among 2.86 lakh youths under the Mukhyamantri Nischay Swayam Sahayata Yojana.A total of 1.19 crore households across the state were provided free electricity connections by October 2018 under the ‘Har Ghar Bijli’ scheme of the CM’s Seven Resolves programme, Tandon said.

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