Guwahati, Aug. 31: Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal will chair a cabinet meeting in Majuli on September 7, the first such meeting to be held outside Guwahati since 1976.
The chief minister made the statement at an interactive programme with citizens held here on the completion of 100 days of his government today. The programme, which was recorded last evening, was telecast by Doordarshan this evening.
A practice of holding cabinet meetings outside the state capital at district and sub-divisional headquarters between 1972 and 1976 was prevalent when Sarat Singha was the chief minister but it was discontinued after his tenure.
The cabinet meeting is scheduled to begin at 5pm at the conference room of the sub-divisional officer (civil) in Majuli on September 7. The next day, Majuli, the constituency Sonowal represents, will be declared a full-fledged district, probably the first island district in the country.
Sonowal said his government has written to the Centre to allot the fencing work on the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam to the army, as in the case of the border with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.
Dispur wants the army to be engaged as they feel the quality of fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border was far superior than that on the Indo-Bangladesh border and it will be able to expeditiously complete the work. Of the 280km international border in Assam, around 71km is still unfenced, including the 60km-long riverine border.
In Assam, the fencing work has been done by the state PWD, the National Buildings Construction Corporation and the National Project Construction Corporation.
Sonowal identified good governance and curbing corruption as two major challenges of his government.
He said his government will take strong action against anybody indulging in corruption.
The updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will help identify genuine Indian citizens and solve the foreigners problem, Sonowal said. He, however, supported giving refuge to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh on "humanitarian grounds".
"We have to protect the religious minorities of Bangladesh who have come here fearing for their lives," he said. On the Centre's decision to auction 12 small oil fields, he said, "The state has nothing to lose."
Sonowal also announced the setting up an institute for training Assam Civil Service probationers at Umrangso in Dima Hasao district, akin to the IAS training academy in Mussoorie. He said the setting up of the institute will give a boost to the picturesque hill district. The Assam government has decided to file cases against cement companies in the Competition Commission of India and Consumer Forum for abruptly hiking prices, he added. BJP secretary in-charge of Assam Mahendra Singh told The Telegraph today, "From what we have seen from the steps taken by the BJP-led state government like GST and checking corruption, it will surely become one of the best states very soon. We can safely say Assam badal raha hai, aage badh raha hai (Assam is changing, moving forward) under a simple and dynamic chief minister."
Addressing a news conference in Dibrugarh today, Assam PCC president Ripun Bora came down heavily on the Sonowal government and questioned what they had achieved in 100 days.
Additional reporting by Avik Chakraborty in Dibrugarh and Wasim Rahman in Jorhat
