PATNA, June 11 -- Women employees of the state government, numbering around four lakh, will soon be getting residential accommodation near their places of posting. A decision to this effect was taken at the cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday. This was among 22 proposals of various departments which received the cabinet nod, said additional chief secretary (cabinet) S Siddharth after the meeting. Under the scheme, the state government would take on lease residential accommodation from private parties and builders for a certain period and offer the premises to the women staff from panchayat to the secretariat level to live free of cost. A section of the officials said that the decision was mainly prompted in keeping with the ruling dispensation's bid to woo women employees ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. A similar proposal was mooted by the education department in 2023 to provide rented accommodation to teachers posted in the far-flung areas near their schools to ensure their timely availability during the teaching periods. However, the proposal was kept waiting for the government's nod. Now, as most of the teachers have been posted near their native places, they would prefer taking house rent allowances (HRA) instead of residing in the rented accommodations. The new scheme envisages same facilities for all women staff, working from panchayat-level office to the state secretariat, said Siddharth. A five-member committee, headed by the respective district magistrates (DMs) would be set up in each district to identify private houses and do the lease agreements with them. "If women employees face any problems related to the accommodations, the concerned sub-divisional officers (SDOs) will resolve it. The benefit of this government scheme will be given to 3.5-4 lakh women employees working in the state, which include about 25,000 women workforce in the state police. In another important decision, the cabinet has approved the proposed creation of 8,414 posts including 8,093 lower class clerks in more than 8,000 panchayats of the state. The cabinet has also approved the decision to open a mega skill centre at a cost of Rs.281 crore to train 21,600 youth for various skills. The state cabinet has approved 36 new posts for the establishment of sports injury unit in Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan Orthopedic Hospital, Patna. Apart from this, 267 other posts have also been created in the same hospital. As many as seven doctors posted in various health centers across the state have been dismissed from their service on account of not reporting to their places of posting for quite a long time....