Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on June 17 urged the centre to look into the floods in the region and called for immediate relief.
Sonowal, participating in the 4th meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog in New Delhi, said that the Northeast state is facing severe flood problem.
Addressing the meeting, Sonowal said that the Assam government gives utmost importance to implementation of the development agenda set by the Union government to ensure faster economic growth.
Sonowal underlined the significant gains made in revenue collection and capital expenditure as well as implementation of different flagship schemes. He also informed the measures taken up by the state government to ensure transparency and remove corruption in implementation of government schemes.
“The state’s own 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 Rs 41,929 crore which shot up to Rs 70,105 crore during 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 160%”, he said.
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 enabled the departments to initiate process for implementation of schemes without any loss of time.
He also informed 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.
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.
