Guwahati: "A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream if you dream together is a reality."

Quoting Beatles icon John Lennon, minister for parliamentary affairs, transport, industries and commerce Chandra Mohan Patowary on Saturday called upon civil servants of Assam to rededicate themselves to the cause of the people. While addressing the Civil Services Day at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra in Panjabari, he said: "There may be differences of opinion, but a combined effort from the political side and bureaucratic side will benefit the people and make the state prosperous."

Patowary said the present government wants inclusive growth and it has full faith in the bureaucracy.

The minister along with former RBI governor Y.V. Reddy, gave away Karma Shree - the chief minister's award for excellence in public administration, 2018 - to 12 officers. The recipients include Bikash Sharma from the directorate of information and public relations, Dhubri, for use of social media and digitalisation.

The awardees comprise former additional deputy commissioner of Kaliabor subdivision Pankaj Chakravarty and assistant commissioner, Kaliabor, Writu Pallav Baruah, for developing a new App for flood damage and deputy commissioner, Tinsukia, Oinam Saran Singh for Uttaran online platform. The other recipients are Preetom Saikia, Aruna Rajoria, Nirada Devi, P. Sivakumar, Vasanthan B, Davinder Suman, Virendra Mittal and Hemjyoti Bharali.

Reddy said: "Civil services touch lives of citizens everyday and every moment. So for a civil servant, the common person must be the king."

Patowary also launched online annual confidential report system (ACR) for Assam civil service officers at the function.