Centre assures assistance to flood-affected States

CM highlights revenue gains & implementation of flagship schemes

A CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI, June 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reiterated that Centre would provide all assistance to the flood-affected States to deal with the flood situation currently affecting parts of the country.

Prime Minister Modi was addressing to the Chief Ministers and other government officials at the fourth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog, in Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre in New Delhi.

“The Governing Council is a platform that can bring about historic change,” said Modi while delivering the opening remarks.

He said that on the lines of the 115 aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog, States can define their own parameters to identify 20 percent of the total blocks in the State as aspirational blocks.

“Assam has seven aspirational districts. The Deputy Commissioners of these districts are formulating district action plans and two districts have already submitted their plans. We are implementing extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan from June 1, 2018 upto August 15, 2018. Steps are being taken for implementation seven flagship programmes in the seven districts of Assam in a time-bound manner,” said Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Sonowal, however, took the opportunity to inform country’s top governing bodies as well as the Prime Minister about the several developmental steps he has taken ever since he became the Chief Minister. He said that Assam’s annual revenue has increased to Rs 15,776 crore during 2017-18 against Rs 12,847 crore in 2015-16.

“The expenditure during 2015-16 was 41,929 crore which shot upto Rs 70,105 crore in 2017-18. The capital expenditure during 2017-18 has increased to Rs 12,817 crore against Rs 4,919 crore during 2015-16, an increase of 100 percent,” said Sonowal.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal underlined the significant gains made in revenue collection and capital expenditure as well as implementation of different flagship schemes in the State.

He also informed the gathering of the measures taken up by the State Government to ensure transparency and remove corruption in implementation of government schemes.

“The Government of Assam gives utmost importance to the implementation of the development agenda set by the Union Government to ensure faster economic growth of the State,” the Chief Minister pointed out.

Stating that for the first time in Assam, budget for the current fiscal was presented in electronic format, the Chief Minister informed that timely communication of budget allocation digitally in first week of April 2018 enabled the departments to initiate process for implementation of schemes without any loss of time.

He also said that the transition to GST in Assam, by and large, has been smooth and hassle free. He further added that the State Government has developed the seven-year strategy plan and three-year action plans for different sectors, keeping Sustainable Development Goals in view as advised by NITI Aayog.

Informing the new initiatives of the State Government, Sonowal highlighted the Chief Minister Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana, which is to be implemented with financial outlay of Rs. 30,000 crore covering all 25,425 villages of the State to double farmers’ income by 2022. He also stated that the State Government has launched its own scheme Atal Amrit Abhiyan covering 92% of population with annual income less than Rs 5 lakhs for six critical disease groups. Till date, 2500 persons have availed cashless treatment under the scheme in empanelled public and private hospitals, he added

He also informed that so far 9.51 lakh farmers have been provided with soil health cards in the state. Meanwhile, works for second cycle has also been started and distribution of cards will be completed by March 2019. He also said that the State Government has taken up upgradation of 10 wholesale markets and 65 rural haats under World Bank aided project, APART

The Chief Minister also underscored the achievements made in implementation of national flagship schemes like MGNREGS, Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Mission, e-NAM, Mission Indradhanush and Poshan Abhiyaan. Moreover, progress made in the execution of Aspirational Districts project was also highlighted by the Chief Minister during the meeting.

He also said that the Assam government has detected and cancelled more than four lakh bogus job cards. “Emphasis is also being given for timely release of wages to job card holders. In 205-16, the delay in wage payment to job card holders was as high as 81 percent which has been brought to 18 percent in 2017-18,” the Chief Minister said.

Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar, several Union Ministers, Chief Ministers of States, members of the Governing Council, officials of the Union and the State Governments were present in the meeting.