Patna: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Tuesday held the last cabinet meeting of this year at Valmiki Nagar, a forest area in West Champaran district. Valmiki Nagar near the Indo-Nepal border is known for tiger reserves, spread over about 880 square kilometres. Maharishi Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, is said to have spent a few years in Buffalolotan, now known as Valmiki Nagar.

A hall of the forest department was converted into an auditorium for the same Bihar Pradesh Council of Ministers meeting and a waiting room equipped with state-of-the-art facilities was also arranged in the premises. The cabinet meeting chaired by Nitish Kumar began at 1.30 pm and allowed 13 agendas.

Ahead of the same cabinet meeting, the CM along with his cabinet colleagues also enjoyed a boat safari at Valmiki Nagar Tiger Reserve. Deputy CM Renu Devi from Bettiah district headquarters in West Champaran gave Nitish a warm welcome. In Valmiki Nagar, arrangements have been made for Nitish to stay overnight at the guest house of the state government. This is not the first time that Nitish has chaired a cabinet meeting away from the state capital. Nitish has held cabinet meetings outside Patna several times during his 16 years in office. Nitish, who came to power in Bihar in 2005, held a cabinet meeting at Barbigha village in Begusarai in 2009 on the run of the Vikas yatra.

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