‘Agniveers’ to get special preference in Assam police recruitment : Himanta

Diphu (Assam), Jun 15 (PTI) Youths who serve for four years in the armed forces under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be given preference during recruitment to Assam police, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday,

“Agniveers (those who serve in Agnipath scheme) who return after four years of service in the Armed Forces will be given special preference in Assam Police recruitment,” Sarma said at the concluding day of BJP’s two-day state executive committee meeting here.

Sarma, who spoke on a plethora of projects undertaken by the Assam government, said the linking of Aadhar with ration cards which was undertaken following the prime minister’s initiative had found many fake beneficiaries.

“These beneficiaries were put in the system by the previous government,” he said adding all such names will be removed and many more people will get the benefit of ration cards.

Sarma said that in Assam only 14 lakh farmers of its 27 lakh cultivators have been benefitted by the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.

A central sector scheme with 100% funding from the Centre, the money is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

He urged all BJP party workers in rural areas to help all farmers who have been left out to apply for the scheme.

Sarma said the BJP-led government in the state has been successful in initiating the process of paddy procurement and in the last one year it had infused Rs 800 crore into the rural economy.

“During the next four years we aim to procure 24 lakh metric tonnes of rice that will enable us to strengthen the agricultural economy by Rs 5,000 crore”, he added.

The Assam government has also decided that it will bear the cost of electricity and chemicals for water treatment for the next five years under the Jal Jeevan mission, the chief minister said.

“We will induct 26,000 youths as ‘Jal Mitras’ to help provide potable drinking water to each rural household”, he added.

Referring to the power sector, he said the state government aims to make Assam self-reliant by increasing electricity production from the existing 500 MW to 2000 MW in the next four years with the primary emphasis on green energy.

An investment of Rs one lakh crore in the industry sector is at different stages of implementation, Sarma said.

Sarma said the empowerment of the tea garden workers is a priority of the state government. “Till now a garden owner was the sole beneficiary of compensation for land acquired from tea gardens. But now the government has decided to provide a part of the compensation to the workers of the affected garden as well”.

Under Mission Bhumiputra, which was launched by the Assam government to issue caste certificates to all individuals and students of the state belong to SC, ST, OBC and minorities and other backward castes, eligible students of classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 will get their caste certificates in their school itself and from August 2022. The office of the deputy commissioners will collect applications from schools and deliver the certificates in November.

Besides, there is also provision for online application, he said.

The state government, he said, will launch the second edition of Mission Basundhara from October 2.

Mission Basundhara provides land mutation, updating of land records and delivery of these services to the people at their homes.

Besides, pattas will be to indigenous people residing on government land and not on forest land, he added.