Now Gogoi to publish white paper on fincial health

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 20: Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is going to publish a white paper, comparing, among other matters, the fincial position in Assam when the BJP took charge at Dispur from the Congress with what it had been in 2001 when the Congress had taken power from the AGP.

Addressing the press at Rajiv Bhavan in the city today, Gogoi said: “The white paper will contain the fincial condition in Assam in 2001 when the Congress took charge from the AGP vis-a-vis the fincial situation in the State now. I need a month to publish the white paper. It was too difficult a period when we took power from the AGP in 2001. It was a tough task for us to pay the salaries of the employees, let alone providing jobs to the unemployed. However, the fincial situation at Dispur now is quite comfortable. This is the reason why the Government can regularize the services of as many as 7,234 TET teachers. This has proved that we have left the fincial health in the State at a better state in 2016 than what the AGP had left it in 2001. Now the State Government will have to shoulder the burden of the salaries of 7,234 additiol teachers.”

“This is not all. The State government has Rs 5,000 crore deposited in the RBI. I’ll make all these quite clear in the white paper,” Gogoi said, and added: “It was my government that published the advertisement for the regularization of 7,234 TET teachers. There were two cases in the Gauhati High Court that halted the appointment process. However, the High Court accepted the list which my government prepared. However, the new government at Dispur is giving such an impression that it has done it alone.”

Meanwhile, Gogoi thanked Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal for proving what the Congress Government at Dispur had told the Centre over the past two years right. “What Sonowal told the Centre in his memorandum to the Centre reflects what my government kept telling the Centre over the past two years. Sonowal told the Centre that Dispur owes Rs 10,000 crore oil royalty from the Centre. He also said that Dispur is to get Rs 1,200 crore from the Centre for floods and erosion. Now he is banking on the special category status for Assam. All these were our pet issues,” Gogoi said.

The former Chief Minister expressed his dismay over the fact that the Chief Minister’s 100-day action plan is silent on price rise, NRC update, foreigners issue etc., which enbabled the BJP to come to power at Dispur. “Now the State Government is comtemplating on dredging the Brahmaputra. My government too had such a plan. An expert panel is set to study the Huang He water magement plan to apply that expertise in the Brahmaputra in Assam. However, the problems of the Brahmaputra are similar with that of the Mississipi, not with that of the Huang He. The BJP is in power at the Centre as well as at Dispur. Let them solve the problem of floods and erosion by the Brahmaputra. We’ll be happy.”

On border fencing, Gogoi said: “The new government has a year time to seal the intertiol border with Bangladesh. However, the fact remains that my government completed 99 per cent of border fencing and border roads.”