Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that officials and other staff members of the state government have a major role to play in the fruitful implementation of pro-people policies of the government.
The commitment of the officers and employees towards their duties and assigned tasks was indispensable for a welfare state, Sarma said at the Lok Kalyan Diwas programme organised to pay tribute to the state's first Chief Minister Gopinath Bordoloi here.
A Lok Sewa Adhikar Aayog will also be established soon with the aim of expediting the speed of public services delivery, he said.
''The officials and government employees are one of the main pillars of public services and so on this day we award state government employees who have displayed exemplary dedication towards their assigned duties'', Sarma said.
The awards are in two categories- Lok Sewa Awards (for non-gazetted employees) and Karmashree Awards (for gazetted employees) and this year, 75 employees were selected for the former and six for the latter.
Sarma said that the day is observed as Lok Kalyan Divas to pay tributes to Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi for his contributions towards strengthening the Assamese community.
''The first chief minister of the state was an architect of modern Assam, a great freedom fighter and an insightful politician, who played a pivotal role in preserving the unique identity and culture of the Assamese community by resolutely opposing the Cabinet Mission’s Grouping Formula'', Sarma said.
He further lauded Bordoloi for his role in securing the rights of the indigenous population of the state when he became the chief minister for the first time in 1938 after the fall of the Syed Muhammad Saadulla government in the Assam province.
''He made sincere attempts at protecting the indigenous people of the state from the migrant Muslim population, securing the grazing reserves and reserve forests from the illegal occupation of the migrant Muslim populations, among others and it was due to his efforts in ensuring the continuation of the Line System that later led to the creation of tribal belts and blocks in the state'', he said.
Sarma praised Bordoloi for firmly evicting migrant Muslims from government land during his term as the chief minister and a parallel can be drawn between the eviction carried out by Bordoloi and the current regime in the state.
-With PTI Input
