GUWAHATI:
The government decided to provide minority certificates to six minority communities in the state – Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain, and Parsis, on May 29.
Making the announcement, health minister Keshab Mahanta, after a cabinet meeting, said that there is a big department for minorities in Assam, and there are a number of welfare and development schemes for them, but since they do not have official recognition, they have been unable to avail the benefits.
“Earlier there was no system to provide certificates to minorities. But now, a new system will enable the minorities to avail of various government schemes and benefits,” the minister said.
Besides giving minority status to the above-mentioned communities, the cabinet chaired by Himanta Biswa Sarma, also approved various funds for the welfare of different communities in the state, the health minister informed.
In a bid to pacify the agitating tea garden labourers of Doloo Tea Estate in Cachar district, the cabinet also approved Rs 12.62 crore as compensatory payments to the people displaced from the area. A total of 1,263 tea garden families will get Rs 1 lakh each as compensation for their cooperation in the development work of Greenfield Airport at Silchar, Mahanta said.
In another major decision, the cabinet approved Rs 6.9 crore for ex-gratia payments of Rs 2 lakh to 288 seriously injured persons and 57 women victims lost during the Assam Agitation from 1979-85.
Besides that, the cabinet also approved Rs 142.50 crore for payment of outstanding provident fund (PF) dues of Assam Tea Corporation Ltd (ATCL).
The cabinet meeting also approved a mechanism for rationalisation of “zonal valuation” and “fair compensation” for the acquisition of tea land.
In addition to that, the cabinet also approved for determination of 10 per cent of the zonal value of nearest agricultural land as a floor value.
The cabinet further approved an amendment to the Assam Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Rules 2015.
The new rules will equate tea garden lands with lands located in urban areas for the purpose of determining factors to calculate the compensable payable when tea lands are acquired for public purposes.
Moreover, the tea garden workers (both permanent and temporary) will be eligible for receiving 10 per cent of the compensation amount payable to the tea garden towards the acquisition cost of the land.
In another decision, the cabinet approved the exemption procedure of Fixation of Ceiling (FoC) for payment of the monthly honorarium of part-time instructors working in secondary schools under Dr Banikanta Kakati Computer Literacy Programme.
“This will ensure regular and timely release of monthly wages to the part-time instructors,” Mahanta said.
The cabinet also approved the issuance of the Assam Taxation (On Specified Lands) Amendment Ordinance, 2022 to enable the extension of tax exemption on green tea leaves for a further period of three years from January 1 2022.
Among other things, the state cabinet also approved a standard operating procedure (SOP) for implementation of the Assam Model of Mission Amrit Sarovar which seeks the introduction of a source of water for small and marginal farmers and income-generating assets by integrating pisciculture and commercial plantations.
Under this mission, 3,007 sarovars (ponds) will be constructed with the cost of Rs 1208 crore within August 2023.