Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on August 20 reviewed the implementation status of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan at a meeting in Dibrugarh.
He also held a discussion with the MSME owners of the two districts and urged them to take advantage of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
Saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had started the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan with financial outlay of Rs 20 lakh crore to revive and revitalise the country’s economy affected by COVID-19 lockdown, Sonowal pointed that the state government had held meeting with the banks within one week after the prime minister’s announcements to facilitate collateral free loans to 68,000 MSMEs in the state.
A package of Rs 3 lakh crore was announced for helping the MSMEs under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan by the central government, he said.
Informing that Assam’s farmers could sell vegetables worth Rs 852 crore and fish, meat and eggs worth Rs 150 crore during the lockdown period, Sonowal stressed on the need to become self-reliant in agriculture and allied sectors by increasing production.
He also informed that the state has been able to fulfil its own requirement of fish while also exporting fish to neighbouring states and he highlighted the earning of more than Rs 11 crore by women self-help groups through production of face masks.
Saying that same zeal which was showcased during lockdown period must be maintained to make Assam Aatmanirbhar in all sectors, the chief minister emphasised the need to unitedly work towards achieving economic progress of the state and he urged the MSMEs to play their part in this.
He also said a package worth Rs 20 lakh crore was announced for the first time after Independence to revive the country’s economy and 2403 MSMEs of Dibrugarh district have been provided loans worth Rs 99 crore 98 thousand under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
Union MoS for Food Processing Rameswar Teli, MLAs Prasanta Phukan, Binod Hazarika, Rituparna Barua, DC Dibrugarh Pallav Gopal Jha and other officials were present in the meeting.
