Assam to denotify three proposed reserve forests

Guwahati, Jan 31 (PTI) The Assam government on Friday decided to denotify three proposed reserve forests (PRF) in Tinsukia district for enabling over 20,000 residents to get land rights, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

In a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Sarma, the state government approved transforming the PRF into revenue villages so that people living in the area can get land rights.

"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 here.

The three PRFs are Talpathar (170 hectares), Mohongpathar (466 hectares) and 1st Addition to Duarmarah (113 hectares).

"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 said.

He termed the Cabinet approval as a "big decision" to give relief to the people in distress.

According to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, Assam's forest cover has decreased by nearly 84 sq km between 2021 and 2023, with the total area under forest and tree cover in the state now at 30,415.01 sq km.

Sarma also said that the Cabinet has approved Rs 600 crore to give Rs 3 lakh as grants to each of the 25,000 places of worship across the state.

"The decision to help these places of worship was taken in an earlier cabinet. Today we approved the amount. Out of the total amount, Rs 1.5 lakh will be given as first instalment and the remaining as second instalment," he added.

Sarma said that the Assam Cabinet approved 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," he added.

In sync with this decision, the Cabinet approved the Assam Startup and Innovation Policy 2025.

Besides, the Cabinet also gave its nod to Assam Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Policy 2025, Sarma said.

"We want to make the state a centre of defence equipment manufacturing. This new policy will take the lead in bringing the defence industries into Assam," he added.

In order to ensure all-round development of the state, the Cabinet further approved the Assam Action Plan on BioE3 Policy, the CM said.

He said that two MoUs are likely to be signed during the forthcoming Advantage Assam 2.0 summit on February 25-26.

The state government also decided to create 39 posts of Co-District Superintendent of Police (CDSP) in the rank of Additional SP to look after the law and order in the 39 co-districts in the state, Sarma said.

The Cabinet has approved Rs 234 crore to improve 219 rural roads in tea garden areas of 19 districts of the state, he said.

Besides, it approved the proposal to extend the benefit of the enhanced housing loan threshold limit of Rs 30 lakh to existing 37,277 beneficiaries with an interest subvention of one per cent, the CM added. PTI TR NN SBN TR SBN

Source: PTI