Assam Finance Minister Ajanta Neog will present the state budget for 2024-25 on the floor of the Assam Legislative Assembly on Monday.
This budget will be her fourth budget and earlier, the state Finance Minister said that this budget will be a realistic budget.
The budget session of the state assembly began on February 5 and will continue until February 28.
Last year, Neog presented a budget with total expenditure estimated at Rs 3.21 lakh crore for the year.
Earlier, to stop magical healing in the name of medical treatment, the Assam cabinet passed the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024.
Announcing the decisions of the cabinet meeting held at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati on Saturday evening under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah said that the state cabinet has approved the bill on the Healing Practices (Prevention of Evil) of Assam. , 2024, to provide relief to victims of magical treatment in the name of therapy.
“If any person is found guilty of committing the illegal act in the name of medical treatment or magical healing, they will be punished with imprisonment and a fine. The proposed bill seeks to prohibit and eliminate practices of magical healing in the name of treating certain natives. diseases like deafness, stupidity, blindness, physical deformities, autism, etc. It will completely ban such healing sessions and provide strong punitive action against healers who will exterminate the poor and downtrodden people in the name of healing,” said Baruah.
The state cabinet also approved to establish the Wildlife Safari & Rescue Center in Namdang Reserved Forest in Dibrugarh district at an estimated project cost of Rs 259 crore for providing rescue and rehabilitation services for the wildlife of the region.
“The Wildlife Safari & Rescue Center will be featured with international standard safaris of herbivores, carnivores and aviaries; walking trails and other attractions in a naturalistic environment; a fully equipped veterinary facility serving the needs of animals; and rescue and rehabilitation services. It will become an attraction for local and domestic tourists, will employ about 100 skilled and unskilled workers, and in addition, will economically impact the lives of at least 50,000 people in the vicinity of the proposed site by providing employment opportunities through the provision of services and goods to visitors,” said Baruah.
The minister also said that the state cabinet has approved the “Ten City Development Concept” (Doh Shaher-Ek Rupayan) to be introduced to ensure sustainable urban development.
“Ten cities – Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Nagaon, Tezpur, North-Lakhimpur, Bongaigaon, Silchar, Karimganj, Dhubri, and Haflong/Diphu – will be the ‘Lighthouse’ for other urban local bodies of the state,” added the minister.
The state cabinet also approved the Village Defense Organization (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the bill to amend the Assam Municipal Act, 1956, for efficient urban administration, and the proposed bill seeks to define the roles and responsibilities of three state municipal land registers: Assam Urban Administrative Service, Assam Urban Engineering Service, and Assam Urban Financial Service.
The Assam cabinet also approved the creation of 352 posts in the Assam Secretariat Service and the Assam Secretariat Sub-Service.