Guwahati: The Assam Cabinet on Friday decided to give enhanced financial assistance to the next of kin of Army or CAPF personnel, hailing from the state, who laid down their lives in the line of duty. The cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, approved the increase of ex-gratia to Rs 50 lakh from the existing Rs 20 lakh, government spokesperson and Minister for Water Resources Pijush Hazarika said.
Apart from death in counter insurgency-related incidents, fatalities in left wing-extremism operations, disaster management, and while fighting against the enemy of the state among others, within and outside the state, have also been brought under the purview of cases in which ex-gratia would be paid, he told reporters after the meeting.
Financial assistance of Rs 50 lakh will also be paid to the next of kin of police personnel, home guards, and village defence party (VDP) volunteers who lost their lives under similar circumstances, Hazarika said.
The Cabinet also decided to amend the Assam Excise Rule to raise government revenue.
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A decision was taken to install electronic devices like mass flow meter, radar-based level transmitters, sensor-based electronic bottle counters, and programmable logic controllers at the manufacturers and distillery level to minimise the loss of revenue.
Transit Pass system will be introduced to stop the smuggling of liquor from neighbouring states, particularly from Arunachal Pradesh, he said.
The retail sale limit for IMFL and country liquor has been increased from 9 Bulk litre(BL) to 18 BL, and 9 BL from the existing 4.5 BL for rectified/ denatured spirit to discourage consumption of country liquor. Approval was also given to the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL)'s Rs 3,284 crore project, funded by the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AllB), to solve the low voltage problem in the state.
As many as 2,674 new high voltage transformers will be installed, nearly 7,000 km new 33 kV and 1.1 kV lines will be constructed and 196 new 33 kV substations will be built. A total of 1.80 lakhs new prepaid smart meters will also be installed.
The Cabinet also decided to approve the creation of Adarsh Vidyalaya Sanghatan' to be headed by the chief minister as the chairman and the education minister as the vice-chairman.
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In each assembly constituency, one Adarsha Vidyalaya would be established.
Considering the dearth of technical and non-technical staff in the agriculture department, the cabinet decided to strengthen the workforce at the district level for smooth implementation of the different schemes both in the agricultural and horticulture sector by engaging contractual officials in all districts.
A decision was also taken to waive the fee for seed certification by the Assam Seed And Organic Certification Agency(ASOCA) for three years, Hazarika said.
The Cabinet also decided that the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi award will be given this year during the proposed visit of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu to the state on October 3.
It was decided to enhance the prize money to Rs 5 lakh from the existing Rs 2 lakh. The Cabinet gave its approval to change the names of the state's highest state civilian award from Assam Ratnav to ASOM Baibhav, Assam Vibhushan to ASOM Saurav, and Assam Bhusan and Assam Shree to ASOM Gaurav, Hazarika added.
PTI
