GUWAHATI, March 21 � Securing an inclusive growth for the State, sealing the Assam-Bangladesh border and updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC), checking corruption, ensuring autonomy for the tribal communities, and bringing more powers to the State are among the pledges of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) for the ensuing Assembly polls.
Formally releasing its election manifesto, AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary today claimed that his party alone was committed to implementing the Assam Accord in its letter and spirit.
�Implementing the Assam Accord is at the top of our agenda�we will update the NRC within two years if we come to power. Detection of foreign nationals and deletion of their names from the voters list have not really begun in the true sense,� Patowary said, while voicing confidence that the State would see an AGP-led Government after the polls.
Ridiculing the Congress� claims of putting the State on the path of development, Patowary said that the Congress brand of progress was restricted to hoardings only.
�Had its claims been true, Assam would have been an advanced State by now which is far from true. All it has achieved is to take corruption to unprecedented levels. We will act tough on corruption and introduce an anti-corruption Bill besides initiating every possible effort to eradicate the menace,� Patowary said.
Citing unemployment as among the biggest problems, Patowary said that once voted to power the party would strive to harness the State�s human resources in the best possible manner by equipping the youth with technical and professional education besides generating enough employment avenues.
�We are committed to providing employment avenues to a lakh unemployed youths every year through some special initiatives. An expert committee will guide us in drawing a roadmap for developing our human resources and putting them to the best possible use,� he said.
Regretting that even the Prime Minister had gone back on his promise of treating the State�s perennial problem of flood and erosion as a national problem, the AGP president said that it would strongly oppose the move to construct mega dams on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan.
�We are for finding a permanent solution to the State�s flood and erosion through a scientific approach with due thrust on environmental and socio-economic aspects. We will continue with our opposition to big dams as those would be having catastrophic consequences for the State and its people,� Patowary said.
Pledging to achieve a literacy rate of 85 per cent within 2020, Patowary said that AGP would enhance budgetary allocation on education and facilitate both qualitative and quantitative growth of the sector.
�Twenty-five per cent of all schools of the State are non-provincialized, and we will provincialize these in a phased manner,� he said, adding that all students up to university level would be provided with health cards for availing free medical treatment.
Patowary said that two lakh saplings of amlokhi, silikha, guava, etc, would be planted across the State in the campuses of every educational institution every year.
Patowary further said that the AGP would follow special policies for sports, industry and forest.
Urban development would be another priority area for the AGP, and it would take both short-term and long-term measures to rid Guwahati of its worsening civic problems. �All the towns of Assam and Guwahati would be developed as green towns,� Patowary said.
The AGP president also promised to provide rice at Rs 2 a kg to every below poverty line (BPL) family of the State in the event of the party assuming power.