Cabinet nod for delimitation of panchayats, poll on Nov

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 6, 2024

After the delimitation of the Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies, Assam Cabinet gave its nod for carrying out delimitation of panchayats to limit the boundaries of gram panchayats, anchalik paanchayats and zila parishad constituencies across the state.

This was decided in a meeting of the state cabinet here on Thursday.

“This exercise has already started and will be completed within August 20 and the panchayat poll will be conducted in November this year,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said disclosing the resolutions of the meeting here.

“To ensure that a panchayat, anchalik panchayat or zila parishad does not fall in two assembly constituencies, this delimitation exercise will be carried out in all development blocks and redraw the boundaries of panchayats,” Sarma said.

 Sarma said that following last year’s delimitation of assembly and parliamentary seats in the state, some development blocks had spread over three to four Assembly seats. Hence, there is a need to carry out delimitation ahead of the panchayat elections. 

The chief minister said the delimitation exercise will end before August 20, the voter’s list will be out in September, and the announcement of panchayat polls will be made in October end. 

The cabinet also formed a sub-committee comprising finance minister Ajanta Neog, ministers Ranoj Pegu, Bimal Borah, Keshab Mahanta and Ranjit Dass on the cost of expanding the state government’s flagship scheme ‘Orunodoi’ which provided Rs.1,250 per month to families from weaker economic background, to all eligible beneficiaries.

The cabinet sub-committee has been asked to submit its report within a month.

The cabinet approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Prasar Bharati for preparing a 52-episode documentary series on legendary Ahom General Lachit Barphukan, which will be telecast on Doordarshan national and its regional channels. 

“The cabinet also decided to provide 1.5 lakh additional individuals in the state with new ration cards,” Sarma said. With this, the total number of beneficiaries in Assam will be over 28 lakh.

The chief minister also said that the state government will hold 93 meetings in 93 of the 126 assembly constituencies in the state in July to thank voters who have voted for the BJP in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

“We will also hold separate meetings in 33 other constituencies where our performance was poor to understand the grievances of residents there,” Sarma said.

The cabinet also decided to honour noted social activist and Padma Shri recipient Birubala Rabha, who passed away on May 13, to mark the date of her death as a day against superstitions and other social ills every year.