No subsidised electricity will be provided to any minister, officer or government employee in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Sunday.
Sarma said that he has instructed the power department to install prepaid meters in every government quarter, including residences in the ministerial colony, to ensure that government employee and ministers don’t ‘enjoy’ subsidised power.
In a post on X, the Chief Minister said that during a meeting with officials from the power department, he found that a nominal bill was deducted from the salaries of ministers and senior government officials.
“Immediately, I instructed the department to install individual prepaid meters in every government quarter, including residences in the ministerial colony. This measure aims to ensure that no subsidized power is enjoyed by ministers, officers, or government employees,” he said in the post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“It will prohibit such healing sessions completely and provide strong punitive action against ‘healers’ extorting the poor and downtrodden people in the name of treatment,” he wrote on X.
The proposed bill seeks to “prohibit and eliminate practices of magical healing in the name of treatment of some congenital diseases such as deafness, dumbness, blindness, physical deformity and autism”, the document shared by the Chief Minister stated.
Sarma said that the cabinet also selected 10 cities/towns for a “dedicated sustainable development programme” and proposed to bring in reforms in the state municipal cadres.
The cabinet also approved a Wildlife Safari and Rescue Centre at Namdang Reserved Forest under the Dibrugarh Forest Division at an “estimated cost of Rs 259 crore”, which would provide rescue and rehabilitation services for the fauna of the region.