Guwahati, December 4: The Government of Assam has decided to ban the consumption of beef in public places and hotels and restaurants. This was decided in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma virtually from the conference hall of Assam House here on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister said that with today’s Cabinet decision, there will be total prohibition of beef in public places and in hotels and restaurants with immediate effect. “There will be no consumption of beef in public places and in hotels and restaurants with immediate effect,” the Chief Minister quipped.
Dr. Sarma said that the decision to ban beef in public places and hotels and restaurants will further strengthen the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021.
Another decision taken by the Cabinet is to convert the four-lane stretch of road leading to Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport to a six-lane one. An additional amount for Rs 116 crore for the six-lane road has been allocated from the state budget. The estimated cost for the project will be Rs 474 crore.
The Cabinet decided to institute a separate literary award after noted litterateur Dr Homen Borgohain for those who are getting government pension. A one-time assistance for Rs 50,000 will be given to those who are already receiving any other pension. It was decided that the monthly literary pension will be given to individuals except government employees.
However, government employees who worked under corporation and undertakings and not drawing government pension will be eligible for literary pension. “The decision was taken as there was audit objection to award literary pension to the government pensioners,” the Chief Minister said.
The Cabinet decided to place the Sanskrit Tols and Pali Tols under the Directorate of Secondary Education from the existing Directorate of Higher Education.
Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Dr.Sarma said Assam would witness a new surge in development as projects worth a whopping Rs 1 lakh crore is likely to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Advantage Assam Summit in February next year.
Disclosing the projects in detail, the Chief Minister outlined the expansion of Bongaigaon Refinery to additional 5 million MT, expansion of Namruo Fertilizer Plant at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore, the Guwahati Ring Road project, the Kaziranga Elevated Corridor, the Numaligarh-Gohpur road tunnel, new Expressway from Guwahati to Barapani and to Panchgram at a cost of Rs 25,000 crore, a bridge over the Brahmaputra connecting Morigaon and Darrang, two satellite townships at Jagiroad and Palasbari at an estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore and a railway project connecting Guwahati to Gelephu in Bhutan.
“The series of meetings I have had with the Prime Minister and Central Ministers during my current visit to the national capital have had yielded rich dividends with very positive outcomes,” Dr.Sarma added. The Chief Minister announced that a Cabinet expansion would take place on December 7 next.
