Assam To Spend Rs 1,558 Cr Yearly To Remunerate Forest Village Heads

The Assam government has decided to remunerate gaon burhas (village heads) of forest villages and bring them on equal terms with gaon burhas of revenue villages. Previously, these village heads neither received recognition nor pay as opposed to their revenue village counterparts, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed on Monday.

Addressing the media after the weekly cabinet meeting held in Dibrugarh, the Assam Chief Minister said that there are 1,450 forest villages in Assam, managed by the forest department. These are separate from revenue villages that come under the revenue department.

“Assam has 1,450 forest villages. The forest department manages these villages and is also responsible for the appointment of gaon burhas. On the other hand, gaon burhas in revenue villages are appointed by the revenue department. These village heads receive a monthly remuneration of Rs 9,000 from the government. However, heads of forest villages neither have any official recognition nor do they receive any pay,” Sarma said.

He said, “They have been carrying out the same duties as their counterparts. As such, the cabinet today decided that effective January 1, 2025, they will receive the same remuneration as revenue village heads.”

The Assam government will expend Rs 1,558 crore every year for this, the Chief Minister said.

Notably, the Chief Minister was joined by Prasanta Phukan and Bimal Borah in Dibrugarh, while nine cabinet ministers joined from Guwahati and Ranjeet Kumar Dass joined from Bongaigaon and Kaushik Rai from Silchar through video conferencing.