Assam CM reiterates commitment to implementing Clause 6 of Assam Accord
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal led the Independence Day celebrations in Guwahati by unfurling the tricolour followed by the guard of honour ceremony.
Amid a Covid-19 pandemic and a slew of disasters including, floods, landslides, blow out of a natural gas well, among others, Assam on Saturday celebrated a low-key Independence Day.
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal led the celebrations in Guwahati by unfurling the tricolour followed by the guard of honour ceremony. Similar celebrations were held at all 33 district headquarters which were attended by cabinet ministers.
With assembly elections due in 8 months, Sonowal reiterated the state government’s commitment to implementing Clause 6 of the 1985 Assam Accord, which pertains to safeguarding, preserving and promoting Assamese identity and heritage.
“We are committed to implementing the Assam Accord and are taking steps to rid Assam of illegal foreigners. The high-level committee on Clause 6 has submitted its report and despite problems faced due to COVID and other disasters like flood, the state government and the Centre have initiated steps to ensure its implementation,” he said.
Stressing that the implementation of Assam Accord requires complete sealing of the Indo-Bangla border in Assam, the CM mentioned the steps taken since 2014 in that regard including composite fencing and use of technology to protect the riverine border points.
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“We have framed a new land policy and taken steps to provide land deeds to nearly 1 lakh landless people. To ensure preservation and propagation of Assamese language, a law has been enacted to include Assamese in all schools in the state except areas in the Bodo Territorial Area District (BTAD) and Barak Valley,” Sonowal added.
The CM mentioned various steps taken by the government to provide succour to COVID affected people within the state as well as others stranded in other parts of the country and abroad.
“Every crisis brings opportunities as well. During this lockdown period from March to July, our farmers were able to sell fruits and vegetables worth ₹852 crore to other states and export as well,” he said.
Sonowal announced few schemes especially targeting the agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and food processing sectors on the occasion.
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Setting up of rice clusters in Dhemaji and Baksa districts, opening of rice procurement centres in all districts, a centre of excellence for organic agriculture at Biswanath district, and setting up of cold storage chains in all districts are some of the new initiatives announced.
“This year besides COVID-19, Assam has faced annual floods, landslides, Japanese encephalitis, African swine fever as well as the blow out and fire at a natural gas well in Baghjan. I offer my condolences to families of those killed in these calamities,” said Sonowal.
One major shift this year was the venue of the state’s main Independence Day event which was held at Judges’ Field in Guwahati after a gap of 12 years. Since 1947, the event was being held at this ground till 2008 when the state government decided to keep the venue exclusively for sporting events.
The venue was first shifted to the nearby Latasil Field and later to the playground of College of Veterinary Sciences at Khanapara. But since the Khanapara filed has been transformed into a COVID care centre, Judges’ Field was chosen as the venue this year.
