Assam Cabinet Meeting: ASTC land in Paltan Bazar to be given to the Railway Department

• Image Credit: Google

• May 8, 2023 | Dhupali Das

The land owned by the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) near Paltanbazar will be transferred to the Railway Authority...

Digital Desk: The land owned by the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) near Paltanbazar will be transferred to the Railway Authority for the construction of a second entry gate to the Guwahati Railway Station, to alleviate passenger congestion. The decision was made on Monday during the state's weekly cabinet meeting.

4 bighas, 4 katha, and 19 lessa of land will be given to the railway authority.

ASTC will receive an equal value of land on an EVL (Equitable Value of Land) basis at the Railway's Jalukbari land, as well as the depreciated value of its existing office structures at Paltan Bazar.

The following are the advantages of building a second entry point:

1. Provide an entry from Paltanbazar to Guwhati Railway Station.

2. Improve passenger conveniences and decongest the Paltanbazar region

3. Assam's new state-of-the-art railway terminal

Further, it was decided during the meeting that a new notification will be given to government employees stating that recruits will from now on be required to work in different departments. 

The cabinet approved the Assam Mobility of Employees of State Government and Other Establishments (For Optimum Utilisation of Available Manpower for Efficiency) Ordinance, 2023, which provides for the mobility of Government establishment employees for alternative duties to another State establishment, via deputation or secondment within and outside the state, in posts with the same pay scale and grade pay for a period specified by the government.

It stated that the requirements of the Ordinance will apply to personnel appointed after the ordinance's enactment, implying that existing employees will not be subject to the ordinance's provisions.

The third key decision made in the cabinet meeting is to boost the forensic science sector with the approval to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Assam and the National Forensic Science University (NFSU), Gandhinagar, Gujarat, that will ensure the establishment of an off-site campus of NFSU near Changsari in North Guwahati, which will function in the interim from a Transit campus in Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).

It stated that the proposed off-site campus of NFSU, Assam will have cutting-edge equipment to analyse DNA, facilitate and promote studies and research, and achieve excellence in the field of Forensic Science in conjunction with Applied Behavioural Science Studies, Law, Criminology, and other allied areas, and technology and other related fields.

The weekly cabinet meeting also approved the proposed collaboration between the Government of Assam and the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie, regarding the specialized training of State Civil Service (SCS) officers for one month, to be conducted under the LBSNAA's 'Parvatmala Programme'.

To honour the ex-servicemen's sacrifice, the cabinet has created specific provisions for their land acquisition.

It approved a 75 per cent registration fee exemption for ex-servicemen or spouses of dead ex-servicemen purchasing one residential property (land, land+house, or flat). They can only use this service once in their lifetime.

This facility will help about 11,000 people (9,000 existing + 2,000 for 2021-22) and approximately 2,000 ex-servicemen/their families beginning next year.