Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal stressed on the need for effective management of flood and erosion problems afflicting a large part of the state every year while participating in the fifth Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sonowal also pointed out the norms of relief and rehabilitation provided to the flood and erosion affected people as per SDRF guidelines are low and urged for substantially increasing funds for prevention, mitigation, preparedness and rehabilitation after natural calamities. He also strongly vouched for NITI Aayog's intervention to include river erosion in the admissible list of calamities for funding under NDRF or SDRF so that quick and timely steps can be taken to counter erosion.
The Chief Minister also informed that thestate government had made remarkable progress in addressing the needs of theseven selected aspirational districts of the state and an amount of Rs 28 crorehad been kept in state budget of current financial year for taking up newactivities in those districts. He also referred to Hailakandi district'sachievement of being ranked first among the aspirational district in India forwhich Rs. 10 crore was awarded to the district.
Pointing that many farmers were being deprivedof benefits of various farmer welfare measures because of not possessingrequired land right certificates, Sonowal highlighted the state government'sendeavour to distribute land pattas to one lakh farmer families within thecurrent financial year. In order toachieve Prime Minister Modi's target of doubling the farmers' income by 2022 inthe state, satisfactory results were showed by Chief Minister's Samagra GramyaUnnayan Yojana that was launched by the state government in 2017 with an outlayof Rs. 30,000, he informed.
The chief minister also referred to the lawand order situation of the state during his speech.
