The Assam government is working on transforming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat slogan into Atmanirbhar Asom by adding its own incentives to some components of the Centre’s Rs 20 lakh crore package which will help the state.
Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government would also announce schemes to match the ones announced by the Centre as a part of its Rs 20 lakh crore package to revive the economy hit by the Covid-induced lockdown.
“For example, the Centre said it would waive two per cent interest on agriculture loan. If the Assam government waives another two per cent, then the total waived interest would be four per cent. The Centre has given 5kg rice for a migrant labourer. We can arrange for 14-day food for them during their home quarantine. In this way, we will announce measures to match up to the Centre’s announcements,” he said.
Sarma said he had on Monday notified a committee, under the chairmanship of principal secretary Samir Sinha and comprising commissioners from industry, veterinary, cooperative, agriculture and PNRD departments, to look into the steps the government can take to transform Atmanirbhar Bharat into Atmanirbhar Asom.
Sarma hailed the Centre’s economic package, claiming that it would help the state in several ways, including continuing electricity supply, giving salaries to its employees and helping farmers and 66,000 MSME units with readily available loans.
The minister said with the Centre’s package, the Assam government will now be able to take Rs 1,504 crore from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as “wage and means advance”, against the Rs 940 crore available earlier, at a minimal interest if it fails to keep the mandatory Rs 108 crore in its treasury. The repayment time has also been increased to three months from one month. The returning time of overdraft advance has also been increased to 60 days from 14 days.
“This will help to bring liquidity into the system and help us even in the most negative of situations,” he added.
Sarma said without the central package, the state government would not have been able to supply electricity to people. The people have not paid electricity bills in the past two months. In turn, electricity boards have not been able to pay the power generation companies who have been forced to threaten disconnection of supply.
“The Centre has said that the state government can take credit from it to pay the power generation companies. This is a relief,” he said.
Sarma said because of the lockdown, one crore women in Assam will get Rs 1,500 crore from the Centre between April and June in three instalments (Rs 500 in each instalment).
Besides, Rs 735 crore will come from the Centre as a part of its three free cooking gas cylinders for 35 lakh Ujala beneficiaries and Rs 85 crore as a part of the Centre’s one time ex gratia of Rs 1,000 to 8.5 lakh elderly persons. This assistance is in addition to the Rs 153 crore central assistance to the state to combat Covid-19.
Sarma said the Centre’s package has now given hope to the state that it will be able to implement its budget without making any changes to it. “But it will depend on devolution and tax collections,” he added.
