Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma urges Union Minister to provide one crore saplings for plantation

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on July 14 met Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and sought his help for procuring one crore saplings for plantation in the state under PM's LiFE Mission. 

Over Sarma's request, the Yadav assured him that he would help to rope in experts from Dehradun in the next two-three days for assisting the Assam government with the plantation of one crore saplings under PM's LiFE Mission. 

The Chief Minister also apprised the Union Minister of floating national tender for the purpose of obtaining 1 crore saplings for the massive plantation drive in the state. 

Besides this, Sarma also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his official residence here on July 13 evening and apprised him about the flood situation in the state and the slew of relief and rehabilitation measures adopted by the state government to tackle the situation. 

He further thanked the Union Home Minister for releasing Rs 340 crore for State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) for Assam. 

The Chief Minister also said that urban flooding is a phenomenon in metropolitan cities and Guwahati is also no exception, adding, ''Efforts are on to channelize excess water from the Brahmaputra river into wetlands and this has been done in the case of Deepor Beel as per suggestion of Union Home Minister, and to build road cum embankments to tackle floods in the state''. 

"We have taken up some flood mitigation projects in the state," he quipped. 

On the same day, Sarma also met Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena at his official residence and sought help to find a suitable location for setting up a mega Cultural Complex in the national capital. 

Sarma complimented the efforts of the Lieutenant Governor for transforming Delhi despite challenging circumstances. 

"Absolute delight meeting Hon’ble Lt Governor of Delhi Shri VK Saxena ji. Got a lot to learn from his vast experience and his efforts to transform Delhi despite challenging circumstances," he tweeted.

On the delimitation exercise, the Chief Minister said that there is no opposition to the exercise and only some issues cropped up relating to redrawing and renaming of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies, and all this can be taken up during the forthcoming visit of the Election Commission of India. 

He disclosed that the state government has submitted a list of constituencies to the EC following grievances for making necessary modifications. 

"The issues that have surfaced following the draft delimitation will be 99 per cent resolved if they are placed before the Election Commission," he added. 

Sarma ruled out the possibility of a reshuffle of the state cabinet prior to the 2014 Parliamentary elections, adding, ''A major rejig will take place before the Assembly elections''. 

He also visited Noida in the evening to oversee the construction work of the Bir Lachit Barphukan statue.

Also read: Assam revenue witnesses multifold jump to over Rs 30,000 crore in FY 2022-23