GUWAHATI, Nov 28 - The 46th meeting of State Managing Committee (SMC) was held at Sainik Bhawan, Guwahati today under the chairmanship of Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia, Maj Gen AK Pattanaik, Maj Gen Ravi Prasad, Maj Gen AK Jha, GOC 51 Sub Area and representatives from the Ministry of Defence, besides a large number of senior officers from Army and civil administration.
Commodore Kamalesh Chandra Choudhury, Director, Rajya Sainik Board gave a power point presentation on the activities of the Sainik Board during the period 2010-2016.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor Purohit conveyed his appreciation to the government for supporting the ex-servicemen community. He also made a fervent appeal to all to come forward and donate generously to the cause of ex-servicemen. He further requested the Chief Secretary to instruct the Deputy Commissioners to gear up the Flag Day collections as these amounts are utilised for welfare activities of ex-servicemen and war widows.
Purohit also asked the Sainik Welfare Board to give proper publicity to the existing government educational and other schemes so that the ex-servicemen and their dependants can make the optimum utilisation of the schemes. He also emphasised the need for skilled development centres for ex-servicemen in Assam.
The Rajya Sainik Board Director mentioned that renovation of the Sainik Rest Houses at Dhubri and Diphu has been completed. The Sainik rest houses at Silchar and Mangaldoi were inaugurated and construction of the rest houses at Haflong and Jorhat is in the final stages and would be ready for inauguration by the end of December.
The Sainik Board has also set up five more zila sainik offices, totalling 19 to cover 27 districts of Assam. The other districts will be covered in phases. The Director further stated that the Government of Assam has set up a grievance redressal mechanism for defence personnel under the respective DC�s in every district headquarter. During the last five years, the Sainik Board has provided support and assistance to 41,506 individuals from the ex-servicemen community, out of whom 8,602 individuals were covered last year, a press release stated.
The Director further stated that construction of the War Memorial on the north bank of Dighalipukhuri here was completed with a total expenditure of Rs 7.50 crore and was inaugurated by the Chief Minister on August 15 on the occasion of Independence Day.
