The state cabinet in a meeting held in Ranchi on Wednesday mostly gave ex post facto sanction of the expenditure incurred during the coronavirus pandemic.

The cabinet sanctioned distribution of foodgrain among the needy in April and May, besides giving the same type of sanction of taking financial assistance under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard).

The financial assistance from Nabard was for 20 road construction projects involving Rs 1,025.54 crore and also for rural drinking water and sanitation projects involving Rs 236.93 crore.

The cabinet also approved the withdrawal of the concession given earlier to women buying immovable property.

The Raghubar Das government had given the concession that enabled women to buy houses by paying only one rupee as registration fee but the present Hemant Soren government withdrew it recently and the cabinet gave its approval in its meeting on Wednesday.

The cabinet also sanctioned Rs 20 crore that was withdrawn by the state government earlier for bringing back migrant workers, tourists and students who were stranded in different states due to sudden imposition of the lockdown on March 25.

It also approved the signing of an MoU with the Infrastructure Development and Equipment Corporation for setting up special laboratories at three new medical colleges in Dumka, Hazaribagh and Palamau for conducting tests for detection of coronavirus positive cases.