Guwahati: Assam should no longer be seen as a frontier state of the country but as the centre point of cooperation between India and ASEAN, state governor Banwarilal Purohit said while addressing the people of the state after unfurling the National Flag on Republic Day here.
Mentioning that an exclusive skill city would be set up in the state soon with support from Singapore, the Governor said “There is endless scope of investments in Assam. The time has come when we should not see Assam as a frontier state, but as the centre-point of cooperation between India and ASEAN.”
He also said that while the state government, in collaboration with the Centre would host a global investment summit in November this year, an exclusive skill city would be established in order to enhance skills and capacity of the youth of the state. “The skill city will be set up with support from Singapore,” he added.
Governor Purohit also said that the state government was keen to make forest areas free of encroachment, but would adequately compensate those people who were evicted from patta land near Kaziranga, “Our government has showed a resolve to protect wildlife and make forests free of encroachment. (But) the government is working on a suitable compensation package for the genuine patta holders who will be evicted from the fringe areas of Kaziranga National Park,” he said.
Pointing out that the state had already enacted a new law to regulate re-classification and transfer of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes, he also said that a “history” of settlements in Assam would be soon prepared to study the issue of land in the state. The new law to regulate re-classification of land was passed to permit use of land for industrial purpose.
Focusing on floods, governor Purohit said the government had already come up with a comprehensive plan for raising and strengthening embankments along the Brahmaputra at a cost of Rs 4455 crore. In Majuli on the other hand the existing earthen embankment would be replaced by a road-cum-embankment at a cost of Rs 337-crore, he said.
The governor’s speech however had no mention of two major issues – Bangladeshi infiltration and law-and-order – despite large-scale opposition to the BJP government’s proposed move to welcome non-Muslims from Bangladesh and the ULFA’s renewed attacks in upper Assam.
He however spoke about the National Register of Citizens (NRC) updation, and said that the authorities had already completed verification of 91.89 per cent of the 5.94 crore documents that people had submitted. Over 3.55 lakh documents have been sent to other states and 402 to different countries for verification, he said.
