Governer asks administration to create situation for holding BTC poll soon

Governor Calls for Team BTAD; preparation of roadmap for using skill sets of migrant workers coming back to BTAD after lockdown

asks administration to create situation for holding BTC poll soon

 

Guwahati, May 19 : After assuming the administration of Bodoland Territorial Council,Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi today visited Kokrajhar and held a meeting with the Administrator, Principal Secretary, Deputy Commissioners, IG,DIG, Superintendents of Police of the BTAD, Additional PCCF, Army, CRPF and SSB asked them to work for the welfare of the public and take utmost care so that no laxity creeps in the administrative machinery which might act as a deterrent in ensuring a citizen friendly administration.  

Drawing the attention of the officers Prof. Mukhi said, “At present the global community is going through an extraordinary situation in view of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Our country as well as our state are battling hard against COVID 19. We are fortunate that COVID 19 cases have not been that rampant in BTAD and except a couple of positive cases in Kokrajhar all other districts are relatively free from the viral infection. But we cannot be complacent as we have to work in tandem to keep corona virus at bay”.   

He asked the officers to keep the BTC administration on its toes and  follow all the advisories of the health department and make available all the equipment like ventilators, PPEs, masks, hand sanitizers to fight the spread of COVID-19. He also asked the officers to make use of the administrative machinery to generate awareness for adopting the Aarogya Setu app and strictly adhere to all safety guidelines issued by the Government on COVID-19.

The Governor also asked the officers to run the BTC administration on a three-pronged principle of listen, respond and act. He asked them to initiate every effort to ensure citizen friendly governance in the BTAD by listening to the citizen and taking responsive approach for citizen responsive governance. Moreover, time-bound governance with time line for each activity has to be ensured with decisiveness and resoluteness in action, the Governor added.

Prof. Mukhi also reiterated on the spirit of ‘Team BTAD’ to expedite development of the region with special focus on mitigating sufferings of the people hit by corona virus induced lock down. He also said that to alleviate the sufferings of the people there should be assiduous implementation of National Food Security Act and identify those people who are not covered by the NFSA. The Governor said though that the people who are not covered under NFSA have been given financial benefits, he asked the BTC administration to find out the people who are neither covered under NFSA nor received any financial benefits and reach out to them and give them relief.

In view of relaxed lockdown restrictions, efforts should be on to kick start the economic activities following guidelines framed by the Central and State governments. Considering the location of Kokrajhar district as a gateway to North East India through Sreerampur, the BTAD administration has to be very cautious in letting the people in by following all precautionary measures in line with the advisories given by the Government of Assam.

The Governor also emphasized on the need of resource mobilization to make BTC a self sustaining and largely resource generating entity. Considering the abundance of BTAD in terms of its flora and fauna in the national park and wild life sanctuaries like Manas, Bornadi and Orang, efforts should be made to make BTAD greener.

Prof. Mukhi during the meeting also underscored the need of preparing a roadmap for using the skill sets of all those migrant workers who will be coming back to the BTAD post lockdown. Drawing attention of all the officers, the Governor said that when COVID 19 pandemic has its cascading effect on the economy of the nation, many migrant workers who will be coming back to BTAD would have lost their jobs. So the administration in the BTAD must prepare a roadmap to use the skill sets of the workers to catapult the development of the BTAD. My government has already taken decision to use the services of unskilled and semi skilled workers in MGNREGA and therefore asked Principal Secretary Panchayat and Rural Development to create more man days for them. Moreover, efforts are on to upgrade the skill sets of other workers returned to BTAD by Skill Development Mission to engage them in suitable vocations and treat them as asset and not liability.

Moreover, in view of announcement Rs. 20 lakh crore by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as bail-out package, the Governor asked the BTC administration to be prepared to use the part of the package to lend a new lease of life to agriculture and MSME sectors in the BTAD. He also said that concerted efforts should be made to benefit all sections of the people of BTAD from the package. Governor Prof. Mukhi also asked the BTC administration to maintain a close link with the people of BTAD, empower them in every possible way to strengthen the economy and beat the spread of novel corona virus for creating a favourable situation for holding polls to the General Council of BTC at the earliest.