GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the state along wththe rest of the North East India is fast emerging as the gateway to the 10 South East Asian Countries with immense potential of being the sunrise area of India’s economy.
Participating in the India Today Conclave East 2017 in Kolkata on Saturday, which was conducted by consulting editor of India Today Group Rajdeep Sardesai, the chief minister said that North East with its immense potential is poised to be new growth engine and the launch pad of India’s presence in the ASEAN countries.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reiteration of North East being Asta Laxmi, Chief Minister Sonowal said that the perfect alignment between the Central and State Government, Assam is now ready to lead the league of eight north eastern states and corroborate the Centre’s act east through India’s north-eastern region.
Sonowal also claimed that he being in the helm of affairs, was trying to wipe out all administrative loopholes to create a perfect ambience for development in Assam. On being asked about his tirade against corruption to make the administration more responsive to development, Sonowal said, “From the very first day I took over office, I declare a war to weed out corruption from all levels. Accordingly, there has been an intense crackdown on corruption and corrupt functionaries. If any minister or even Chief Minister is found to be indulging in corrupt practices, action will be taken against him”. He also said as a result of his government’s unrelenting war against corruption, a record number of 21.6 per cent growth has been registered in revenue collection in the state in the last one year. He also maintained that no prejudice or favouritism were allowed to creep in, in the government’s tirade against corruption to give people a good governance.
On the ongoing process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue, Sonowal said that the NRC updation process has been on under the guidance of the Supreme Court of India and the Government of Assam perceives NRC updation process as its national duty as it is committed to an error free NRC for Assam as per the guidelines of the Apex Court.
On being asked about infrastructural slackness as one the main reasons responsible for creating impediment towards growth, Sonowal said that Assam has been prone to flood since 1951. The state gets only six month time to work on its construction activities and as a result quality construction gets delayed.
He however, said that for the permanent solution of the perennial flood in Assam, the Centre under the directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has constituted an expert committee with the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog as its head to study the overall problem of flood taking into cognizance international reasons contributing to flood in Assam.
Moreover, on the issue of economic development Chief Minister Sonowal said that his government was taking Assam to new frontiers. The state has immense natural beauty. The mighty Brahmaputra and the Barak rivers, national parks and ten game sanctuaries, the lush green tea gardens, golf course, the hills are just a few examples of awesome Assam.
Assam is now poised to take the geo strategic locational advantage. The advantage of being the only place which has road routes to ASEAN through Myanmar and Thailand. The advantage of being blessed with water ways of Brahmaputra and the Barak. The advantage of having young, educated, extremely productive youth, the advantage of being blessed with sprawling tea industry amidst enchanting meadows, the advantage of being one of the few states with an integrated petroleum industry- the upstream, the downstream and the petrochemical capacities.