Nominate Individuals Committed To Society's Devp For Civic Polls, Assam CM Urges Parties

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday appealed to all parties to field candidates who were committed to the welfare of society for the upcoming municipal elections in the state.

Nominees with no affiliation to any party or symbol would have been ideal for the polls but this decision cannot be taken without discussions, Sarma noted. "I appeal to all political parties to ensure that people committed to improving situations in towns be given tickets for the forthcoming polls," the chief minister told reporters here.

Dates for municipal polls are likely to be announced in the next few days.

"Many states have already adopted party-less elections at the grassroots level and I suggest we also hold discussions on this so that we can implement it during the next panchayat polls," he said.

The CM asserted that his government sought to develop the infrastructure of each town, for which a master plan will soon be prepared. In each town, the government proposes to integrate the deputy commissioner's office with all other offices and shift them all to one area that has parking facilities, he said.

The government has already sanctioned 10 stadiums and these will get reflected in the forthcoming budget allocation, the CM maintained. Auditoriums with capacity to accommodate 1000 seats would be set up in the district headquarters, and ones with 500-seat capacity would come up in the smaller towns, he stated.

Sarma also said that jails would be moved to the suburbs, thus clearing 50 to 100 bighas where parks and other facilities can be built. The government was planning to introduce more online “faceless services”, like the one done for issuing trade licences, for the convenience of one and all, he added.

With inputs from PTI.