Downsize Assam Government: Centre

The Centre wants Assam to downsize its bureaucracy to wriggle out of its financial bankruptcy. 90 per cent of the State budget goes towards salary bill. The State Government has not managed to contribute even ten percent of its share towards centrally sponsored schemes, Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, S B Mookherjee, said in a written reply to a question tabled in the Rajya Sabha by Vijay J Darda. He said poor infrastructure, lack of fiscal prudence, continuous deforestation, recurring floods and erosion are the other major factors responsible for reversing the growth trend in the per capita income. Continued insurgency and social turbulence are also responsible for draining the scant resources of the State and the Assam Government has not been able to achieve the desired results from the plan schemes over the years. The Union Minister nevertheless admitted that the continued infiltration form across the border with Bangladesh had hit Assam’s economy badly. Growth of population at the rate of four percent is also a key factor responsible for Assam’s economic slow down, he said. The Minister said: “with the partition of India in 1947, Assam had lost on trade and commerce with the neighbouring areas as reverine transportation through Bangladesh stopped. Further, over the period State’s population grew at an average rate of around four percent as against  the national average rate of growth of 2.3 percent due to immigration from neighbouring States and Bangladesh”.
                    
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