' Seva Yatra ' from 20 April : CM

PATNA: Refuting that his 'Seva Yatra' might clash with the enforcement of model code of conduct by the State Election Commission in view of the civic bodies elections, CM Nitish Kumar said that he would embark on the second phase of his yatra from April 20. "There is no conflict over the issue," he said on the sidelines of his 'Janata Durbar' on Monday.
The first district on his itinerary will be East Champaran where he will stay till April 23 and then visit Kaimur from April 27-29. In May and first fortnight of June, he will visit and camp at Samastipur, Supaul, Kishanganj, Buxar, Bhojpur and Bhagalpur. In the first phase, the CM covered as many as 11 districts between November, 2011, and January, 2012.
The Seva Yatra aims to physically verify the developmental works and review the functioning of various government offices and schools in the districts. After the monsoon, the CM will visit more districts and is expected to cover all 38 districts by the beginning of next year.
Before the Seva Yatra, Nitish will undertake yatra to Mumbai on April 15. Playing down the reported controversy over his programme there and opposition by some low-ranking members of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray, the CM said that the Biharis living in Mumbai have organized a socio-cultural function to celebrate the centenary year of Bihar. "I am going to Mumbai and will say only there what I have to say," he said.
Nitish has always been a bitter critic of MNS and its leader every time a violent incident involving Biharis in Maharashtra rakes up. "There is no hurdle in my Mumbai visit. I am not supposed to seek anybody's permission to go there," he said.
Regarding the controversy over two universities in Bihar, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Central University Bihar (CUB), Nitish said that the state government has provided whatever AMU wanted to open its centre in Kishanganj and accused the Centre of playing 'nefarious' game of pitching the people of one district against another. "The required land has already been allotted to AMU and now it is up to the university to start work. We hope they will start it. If not, we will chart out our next course of action," the CM said and added that in course of his Seva Yatra at Kishanganj, he will look into this matter.
Regarding CUB, he reiterated his stand to establish it at Motihari. "They retreated after agreeing on Motihari, but I am not going to change my stand," he said and added that at a time when acquisition of land is a major problem in the country, the farmers of Motihari offered land at three places for the university.