Assam to become economic power house: Assam CM

The Assam Chief Minister during an event said that his primary focus shall be always on peace and development

Assam’s welfare and progress is visibly moving on in the right trajectory and prospects are that the state will excel further in all parameters including infrastructure development, economy, connectivity, employment generation, agriculture, education and what not.

In fact Assam can now boast of a higher GDP as compared to previous regimes which is expected to touch a record high within a couple of years. A robust economy is indeed the backbone of a developed nation or a state, which the present government under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma is actively prioritizing on.

A man with a vision, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that, Assam’s GDP is expected to rise to Rs 10 lakh crore by 2026. From earning revenues to increasing the GPD, the Himanta Biswa Sarma government has achieved notable success ever since assuming power in 2021.

Taking the present status into account Chief Minister Sarma said, “Assam’s GDP in 2023-24 touched Rs 5.65 lakh crore. It is unprecendented because it is reflecting 14.7% growth. Today Assam is almost becoming an Economic Powehouse. This year’s projection shows that in 2024 Assam’s GDP will be Rs 6.38 lakh crore. I think that before 2026 Assam’s economy will be close to Rs 10 lakh crore in the way we are progressing now.”

“We have achieved 18% tax buoyancy which is again unprecedented. In 2022-23 the tax revenue was Rs 16,631 crore, but so far this year the tax collection is Rs 19, 568 crore. Initially till November it is showing 18% percent growth in our tax collection which reflects the peaceful situation in favour of investors.”

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has been acclaimed for his people oriented policies today spelled out the success story during his regime of nearly 3 years so far. On the very first day of the New Year, Chief Minister Sarma interacted with Editors of leading news media outlets in the state and shared his plans for the future as well as what has been achieved so far.

With primary focus on peace and simultaneous development, the People’s Chief Minister has certainly made a big gain.

At the very onset, the Chief Minister highlighted the government’s commitment to bridge the gap and ensure that beneficiaries reap the benefits of government sponsored welfare schemes.

Sarma said that during his stint as the Chief Minister for almost 2 years and 8 months till now, 112 cabinet meetings have taken place in which 1513 decisions were taken. Out of these 1370 decisions have been implemented so far. In 2023 itself 40 cabinet meetings took place and 578 decisions taken.

Chief Minister Sarma himself spent 31 days by camping outside the capital during his 28 visits to different districts in the state.

Assam’s push for development got a booster too with 44 Union Ministers visiting the state to overview the progress of schemes and doing other needful for execution of new projects. Sarma said that Union Ministers have visited Assam 177 in 2023.

The Assam Chief Minister feels that the peace push by the government has yielded much desired results. Sharing details, the Chief Minister said that the era of militancy in the state is over by 90% as 2 peace accords have been signed last year, while 11 other such peace pacts have been signed since 2021. The CHief Minister maintained that there is no other active insurgent group in the state except a faction (anti-talk) of the ULFA.

“The era of militancy is over by 90 percent. This facilitated the return of 3842 persons associated with insurgency to the mainstream,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Chief Minister Sarma also stated that crime rates have significantly dropped.

“In 2023, there were 7453 cases of crimes against women. There were total 1.33 lakh cases of crimes in 2021, but now total crimes have reduced to 3000. More than 50% of crimes have reduced.”

The Chief Minister said that the conviction rate has increased to 17% but his government aims is to take it to 40% by 2026.

Himanta Biswa Sarma also spoke about the government’s crackdown on drugs and corruption.

He said that over 5000 persons involved in drugs trade have been arrested and over 3000 cases registered. The Assam Police STF too have intensified operations against fake gold, fake currency rackets operating in the state, the Chief Minister informed.

Reiterating the government’s commitment to wipe out corruption, Chief Minister Sarma said 103 government officials have been arrested on charges of corruption in 2023 and maintained that such operations will continue.

Sarma added that incidents of child marriages have come down and will soon cease to exist. He informed that the Indian Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS) has been urged to do a survey and find out about the present status after a couple of crackdowns by the government against child marriage.

Sharing his plans for 2024, Chief Minister Sarma said that he would primarily focus on improving the road connectivity as well as educational infrastructure in the state.

As part of the efforts, 3000 state roads will be converted to National Highway standards.

“State roads have a breadth of 5.3 meters and it will be increased to 10 metres as per the National Highway standards,” Chief Minister Sarma added. He further informed that 2 new Medical Colleges will be set up along with 9 new nursing colleges as well as law colleges.

The Assam Chief Minister who has been instrumental in reviving the education sector informed that 100 new schools will be opened in tea garden areas. He said that the government intends to modernize Government High Schools at a cost or Rs 8 crore each and set up more than 500 schools before 2026.

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