Rs 308 crore released for paper mills' staff

CABINET TAKES SLEW OF KEY MEASURES

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam Cabinet on Tuesday accorded administrative approval to a corpus of around Rs 8,000 crore for infrastructure development projects in the State. The Cabinet also sanctioned a sum of Rs 308 crore for payment of arrear dues to the employees of the two defunct paper mills of the State, along with release of Rs 116 crore for beneficiaries of the Prime Minister's Awas Yojana (Urban).

Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said that the amount of Rs 308 crore has been released in accordance with the Government's agreement with the employees' unions of the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills and the employees will now receive their arrear dues within a short time. Moreover, the Government will also fulfil its commitment for re-employing 100 employees of the defunct paper mills within a week, based on their qualifications.

Mahanta further informed that administrative approval had been accorded to a sum to Rs 2,000 crore for construction of four new medical colleges in the State – at Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Golaghat and Morigaon. Rs 500 crore has been earmarked for each medical college.

The Health Minister said that the Cabinet also accorded administrative approval to a sum of Rs 3,197 crore for construction of a four-lane bridge between Sualkuchi and Palasbari over the Brahmaputra, which will be 4.08 km in length.

Administrative approval was further accorded to a sum of Rs 2,390 crore for construction of 34 polytechnic institutes and 43 ITIs in various areas of the State. These institutes will be jointly developed as 'Centres of Excellence' by the Government of Assam and Tata Technical Limited, he said, adding that 78 per cent of the fund will be provided by the latter.

Stating that there are around 1.16 lakh beneficiaries under the Prime Minister's Awas Yojana (Urban) at present, the Minister informed that the Cabinet decided to provide some relief to the beneficiaries in view of escalating costs of building materials. Each beneficiary will now receive an additional amount of Rs 10,000.

The Cabinet also decided to set up an Assam Inland Waterways Company Limited headed by the Chief Minister. This company will work to develop the waterways of the State. An amount of Rs 289 crore has been sanctioned for development of riverine infrastructure.

Mahanta disclosed that the Cabinet agreed in principle to set up an 'Assam Complex' in the Raigarh district of Maharashtra. The complex will showcase Assam's art and culture and will also have facilities for accommodation of visitors from Assam. A high-powered committee will be set up to finalize the modalities of the project, Mahanta added.

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