Guwahati, June 13: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has asked the transport department to expand the scale and scope of contactless services as a part of the state government’s mission of enhancing ease of living to the citizens.
Chairing a meeting with the district transport officers and other officials of the transport department at Janata Bhawan here on Monday evening, Sarma held a threadbare discussion and asked them to be proactive in expanding contactless services of the department to the convenience of the people across the state.
The chief minister said that in the last two years around 23 lakh people availed contactless services and the seamless implementation of these services resulted in savings of Rs 345 crore to the economy.
He also said that the department through its various services has generated revenue to the tune of Rs 1361.65 crore in the financial year 2022-23.
During the meeting, Sarma also asked the department for effective implementation of the Vehicle Scrappage Policy Assam 2022.
He asked the transport officials to incentivise people to handover end of life vehicles.
It may be noted that as a fallout of this policy, 764 vehicles have already been handed over to Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility Rules (RVSF).
In view of the reported loss of lives, primarily due to road accidents across the state, the chief minister reviewed the accident hotspots and asked the officials to take emergent necessary steps prevent such accidents. He also instructed the officials to strictly implement traffic laws.
Moreover, in the interest of the people at large, he also asked the transport officials to strictly execute the penal provisions and penalise the offenders.
Further, the chief minister reviewed the working of existing manpower of the transport department and asked the department to take steps to introduce training for the newly inducted employees in the department.
He also took stock of the new initiatives undertaken by the department.