As many as 20,000 people will get land rights as the Assam government has decided to denotify three proposed reserve forests (PRF) in Tinsukia district. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said at least 20,000 people living in these villages do not have land rights due to PRF restrictions. The three PRFs to be denotified are Talpathar (170 hectares), Mohongpathar (466 hectares) and 1st Addition to Duarmarah (113 hectares).
Assam CM termed the Cabinet approval as a "big decision"
In a Cabinet meeting, chaired by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, the state government approved transforming the PRF into revenue villages so that people living in the area can get land rights. CM termed the Cabinet approval as a "big decision" to give relief to the people in distress.
"There are three Proposed Reserve Forests in Tinsukia. We have decided to denotify and make them revenue villages. This will help the people living there to get land rights," he said at a late-night press conference. "There are over 20,000 people living in these villages and they were not getting any land rights due to restrictions of PRFs. That is why we decided to make these PRFs as revenue villages instead of making them Reserve Forests," Sarma added.
Assam approves grant for worship places
In the cabinet meeting, Assam government has also approved Rs 600 crore to give Rs 3 lakh as grants to each of the 25,000 places of worship across the state. CM Sarma said of the total amount, Rs 1.5 lakh will be given in the first installment, and the remaining in the second installment.
Assam Cabinet also approved the creation of a new administrative wing as Department of Innovation, Incubation and Startup to supervise the development of startups and provide policy, funding and mentorship support. "The Cabinet directed the Finance Department to allocate Rs 100 crore in next year's budget for this new department.
It will encourage the youths and this historic decision will become a game changer," CM Sarma said.
(With PTI inputs)