GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday will complete his first month in office, which was packed with non-stop action, primarily centred around battle against Covid-19, drugs and cattle smuggling to Bangladesh together with steps taken to revamp administration to make it more proactive.
Under the new normal of Covid-19 curfews and restrictions, Sarma during these 30 days has broken ground on two fronts – getting Ulfa-I chief Paresh Baruah reopen the doors for peace talks after almost 16 years and lifting Assam from its century-old position as an oil-producing state to a refining and marketing entity in collaboration with Oil India Limited.
This leap has come with an investment of Rs 2,187 crore, which is the state’s biggest investment in any PSU so far.
Known as a workaholic since his days as student leader, Sarma has raised the bar higher in his new avatar as a chief minister and has so far kept his promise to deliver pro-active governance, 24×7.
In a first, cabinet meetings are now held every Wednesday on a regular basis to take speedy decisions.
Sarma has also appointed “guardian ministers” for districts in a major administrative reform aimed at delivering governance in a swifter and effective manner and all the 13 cabinet members, besides carrying out the duties of their departments, will act as guardians and will be responsible for holistic development of their allotted districts.
“The chief minister works untiringly for 20 hours every day since the day he assumed office.
The CM’s secretariat has not closed for a single day and every minister also has been working without a single day leave,” water resource and information and public relations minister and cabinet spokesman Pijush Hazarika told TOI.
Hazarika said the new government led by chief minister Sarma assumed charge amid an unusual situation induced by the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
“But the unusual situation from the pandemic has not stopped us from working with zeal, from office and on field,” Hazarika said.
Shortly after assuming charge, the chief minister declared the war on drug menace in the state and a motivated Assam Police since then has been on a rampage against drug dealers and peddlers.
Till May 31, police registered 120 cases and arrested 223 drug mafia across the state besides recovering huge quantities of drugs worth several crore of rupees.
Picking up from where he had left as a health minister during the first wave of the pandemic last year, Sarma and now health minister Keshab Mahanta have not only been more aggressive with testing and vaccinating but also have announced government support to help children, who have lost both parents or the bread-earner parent to Covid-19, rebuild their lives and stand on their feet under the ‘Mukhyamantri Sishu Sewa Achoni (CM’s Children Seva Scheme).” Under this, the government will provide financial assistance, education, vocational employment-oriented training as well as in marriage of such girl child.
Sarma has walked the extra mile to bring solace to the family members of an ONGC personnel who was abducted by Ulfa (I).
Paresh Baruah responded positively to Sarma’s fervent appeal and released the employee Ritul Saikia within 48 hours.
Top on the government’s priority list is fulfilling election promises of providing one lakh government jobs within the year and waiving off loans taken by women from micro-finance institutions.
The recruitment process has already started in education and panchayat and rural development departments.
The government has also taken another major administrative reform which simplifies the processes of flood damage assessment and repairing of infrastructure.