Guwahati, Dec 05, 2024, IANS

Guwahati, Dec 5 (IANS) The Assam Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has given its go-ahead to several significant initiatives to bolster infrastructure, promote education, and honour literary contributions, reflecting the government's commitment to holistic development. Chief Minister Sarma announced on Wednesday that the government has decided to ban serving and consumption of beef in any restaurant, hotel, and public places across the state. The CM said the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, passed in 2021, has been quite successful in ensuring the slaughter of cattle, and "now we have decided to stop the consumption of beef in public places". Another decision taken by the Cabinet is to convert the four-lane stretch of road leading to Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport to a six-lane. An additional amount of Rs 116 crore for the six-lane road has been allocated from the state budget. The estimated cost for the project will be Rs 474 crore. The Cabinet also decided to institute a separate literary award after noted litterateur Homen Borgohain for those getting government pensions. A one-time assistance of Rs.50,000 will be given to those already receiving any other pension. It was decided that the monthly literary pension would be given to individuals except government employees. The Cabinet decided to place the Sanskrit Tols and Pali Tols under the Directorate of Secondary Education from the existing Directorate of Higher Education. Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, CM Sarma said Assam would witness a new surge in development as projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore are likely to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Advantage Assam Summit in February next year. Disclosing the projects in detail, he outlined the expansion of Bongaigaon Refinery to an additional 5 million MT, the expansion of Namruo Fertiliser Plant at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore, the Guwahati Ring Road project, the Kaziranga Elevated Corridor, the Numaligarh-Gohpur road tunnel, new Expressway from Guwahati to Barapani and Panchgram at Rs.25,000 crore, a bridge over the Brahmaputra connecting Morigaon and Darrang, two satellite townships at Jagiroad and Palasbari at an estimated cost of Rs.10,000 crore and a railway project connecting Guwahati to Gelephu in Bhutan. The Assam Chief Minister also said that the state's cabinet expansion will take place on December 7.