The Jharkhand cabinet, headed by chief minister Hemant Soren, approved the construction of new bungalows for all 11 state ministers in the upcoming Ranchi Smart City at a cost of Rs 69 crore on Thursday.

Executed by the state urban development department, the Ranchi Smart City project is coming up on 657 acre land in the HEC area of which about 278.52 acres of land, bifurcated into 51 plots of various dimensions, are being auctioned off in phases. State urban development department is executing this project.

The cabinet also approved around Rs 27.42 crore as the state's share for construction of a World Trade Centre in the Smart City. The total cost of the project will be shared with the Union government.

An official of the state urban development department said, “The idea of a world trade centre (WTC) is to provide a one-stop platform for international business and trading opportunities for various organisations in Ranchi. As per the plan, it will house offices for exports, currency exchange centres, among others.”

The cabinet also approved a plan of the state social welfare department for setting up half-way homes exclusively for those who have recovered from mental illness and disabilities. “In the first phase, three half-way homes with 30 beds each, will come up in Ranchi, Dhanbad and East Singhbhum,” state cabinet coordination department secretary Vandana Dadel said.

A total of 17 proposals were taken up by the state cabinet on Thursday. It was also decided to free up seven iron ore mines from captive use criteria for state-owned companies and put them on auction.

The government also fixed a minimum support price for this year’s paddy procurement at Rs 2,050 per quintal in the general grade category and Rs 2,070 for grade A category. “The paddy procurement rule has also been amended under which each farmer can sell up to 200 quintals of paddy. This is to ensure that farmers get maximum benefit of paddy procurement. A target of 8 lakh metric quintal procurement has been fixed this year,” she said.