GUWAHATI, August 20: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the recovery of land along the Mizoram border and the initiatives taken to resolve the inter-state boundary issues with Meghalaya and Nagaland were among the significant steps taken by his government in the past 100 days.
“The state government has been able to secure land which was encroached earlier along the Mizoram border. Besides, we have made headway in regard to border issues with Meghalaya and Nagaland,” Sarma told mediapersons here, while listing the achievements on the occasion of the state government completing 100 days on Friday.
The government had earlier claimed that it could recover 200 hectares of land along the Mizoram border which were encroached during September and October last year.
Assam has since the latter half of July made considerable progress in regard to the border issues with Meghalaya and Nagaland.
Two chief ministerial-level meetings between Assam and Meghalaya have been held since last month with both states deciding to form regional committees to resolve the border row in six of the 12 areas of differences to start with.
On July 31, Assam signed an agreement with Nagaland to end the standoff on its eastern front with both states agreeing to withdraw their police forces, resort to surveillance by drones and satellites instead, and maintain status quo.
The chief minister further stated that about 400 decisions have been taken in the weekly Cabinet meetings so far. “The government’s decisions have touched the lives of the people in such a short time and have given self confidence to people of the state,” Sarma claimed.
“From May 10, 2021 to August 19, 2021, as many as 121, 59,162 have been vaccinated with as many as 1.30 lakh doses administered per day on an average. Our nursing staff have also saved at least one dose from each vial and thereby helped in eliminating wastage,” the chief minister said.
He further claimed that within three months, the COVID positivity rate has been brought down to below one percent without imposing “complete lockdown”.
“We have made ourselves ready for a possible third wave as well,” he added.
The chief minister also lauded the Assam Police for the drive against human trafficking, drugs, cattle smuggling during the 100-day period. “Such activities have taken the standards of performance of the state police force to new high,” he said.
Sarma also touched on the initiatives taken to create one lakh jobs by March 2022. “We are moving ahead towards achieving this target,” he said, while adding that several administrative and financial reforms have been taken across departments.
“Assam is one of the financially-strong states now. Initiatives have been taken in regard to industrial development, investments in public sector undertakings like NRL, etc,” he said.
Sarma also said that the state power department has been able to augment monthly revenue collection to Rs 650 crore from the earlier collection of Rs 380 crore.
On the security front, the chief minister said that the government has successfully brought cadres of the National Liberation Front of Bodoland (which was formed after the BTR peace accord) to the mainstream.
“Besides, cadres of Kuki militant groups too have been brought to the mainstream,” he said, while adding that for the first time (since militancy in the state), Independence Day was celebrated without any bandh declared by the militant outfits.