Guwahati, June 8: The Assam government will institute some awards replicating the country’s civilian awards.
The decision was taken during the cabinet meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma held in Guwahati on Tuesday and the Assam government decided to institute civilian Asom Ratna Awards to be presented every year to one person who has made a significant contribution to society.
The cabinet also decided to institute Asom Bibhushan Award to be presented to 3 persons, Assam Bhushan to 5 persons and Asom Shree to 10 persons every year and the awards will carry Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively with other benefits like free medical treatment of critical illness, free stay at Assam Bhawans, free travel in ASTC buses etc.
The Assam cabinet also decided that from this year onwards, Literary Pension to be conferred in the name of litterateur Dr Homen Borgohain on his birthday i.e. December 7, Sports Pension to be conferred in the name of Arjun Bhogeswar Barua on his birthday i.e. September 3 and Artiste Award to be conferred on January 17 every year and the awards will be announced 7 days prior to the presentation ceremony.
The other decisions of the state cabinet are – do the smooth implementation of Batadrava Than Cultural and Tourism Project, the Assam cabinet approved allotment of additional land measuring 35 bighas 2 Katha 2 Lecha to the management committee and state Cultural minister Bimal Bora will visit and review the status of the project every month, in a major administrative reform, the cabinet approved simplification of flood damage assessment and repairing of infrastructure.
The Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of the districts will be the authorized person to take necessary action in this regard within the timeframe of April 1 to October 31, in all government offices photographs of President, Prime Minister and the first Chief Minister of Assam Gopinath Bordoloi to be displayed, with a view to utilizing 77,000 bighas of government land freed from encroachers at Gorukhuti, Sipajhar in Darrang district for agricultural purposes, a committee is formed under the chairmanship of MLA Padma Hazarika.
Also Read: CM N Biren Singh offers Rs 10 lakh cash reward to the village for ‘war on drugs’
MP Dilip Saikia, MLAs Mrinal Saikia and Dr Paramananda Rajbangshi will be other members of the committee while Secretary and Director Agriculture Vinod Seshan will act as Member Secretary.
The cabinet recommended holding the first Budget Session of the present Assam Legislative Assembly from July 12.
In order to eliminate overloading by coal trucks passing through Assam, the cabinet decided to check the weights of trucks at Digharkhal and Srirampur inter-state border gates and this practice will continue on a pilot basis till March 31 and the Chief Minister, Finance Minister and Transport Minister will monitor the whole process.
