Covid-19 in Assam waning, specific tax on fuel reduced

Guwahati: As Assam has achieved a visible success in containing the Covid-19, the State finance minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has withdrawn the additional cess of five rupees imposed on petrol and diesel per litre during the pandemic. Presenting the interim budget in State Legislative Assembly as the State is going for elections by April next, in presence of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Sarma said the vote on account of rupees 60,784.03 crores for a period of six months is sought to fulfil obligatory and other necessary expenditure.

The general budget for the financial year is expected to be prepared and placed by the new State government in Dispur prior to 30 September next. Sarma described various flagship schemes and other initiatives introduced by the BJP led government during the last five years in his speech. Sarma, who is in charge of State health portfolio, however, commented that the fight against the novel coronavirus is far from over and hence the people must continue observing necessary health protocols. He observed that the pandemic not only threatened the lives but also resulted in a global lockdown never witnessed before.

He expressed gratitude to the people for generous financial contributions of around rupees 116.89 crores to Assam Arogya Nidhi and also revealed that the government has not touched the amount to date. Sarma made it clear that the entire fund would be utilized with utmost prudence to fight the health disaster in future.

Talking about the high Covid-19 recovery rate of 98.73 percent and a low mortality rate of 0.50 percent, Sarma asserted that Assam has set a great example, which is nationally and globally acknowledged. He also added that 1.15 lakh vaccine doses were administered in Assam, whereas its immediate target is to touch around 6.6 lakh people. Earlier, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha recently, the Union minister responsible for the development of NE region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh stated that the north-eastern States had received adequate funds to fight against the pandemic. Dr Singh informed that Union health & family welfare ministry released rupees 111.34 crores to the NE governments during 2019-20, which includes rupees 72.53 crores for Assam under the national health mission.

During 2020-21, rupees 265.96 crores were released to the NE States that included rupees 180.04 crores for Assam under the Covid-19 emergency response and health system preparedness package. Additionally, the DoNER ministry under a special scheme sanctioned five projects worth rupees 193.32 crores in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland for strengthening the health infrastructure to address the disaster.

Against these projects, rupees 77.33 crores were released by the DoNER ministry to the State governments. During 2020-21, the North Eastern Council (NEC) sanctioned rupees 25.29 crores to help all eight north-eastern States for fighting the pandemic. NEC also sanctioned rupees 24.96 crores towards livelihood generation for returned migrant

workers due to the pandemic inducing national lockdown.