GUWAHATI, May 6 - In a move aimed at stimulating the economic growth of the people of backward classes, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today distributed tractors to self-help groups belonging to plain tribes and backward classes at a function held at the Madhavdev International Auditorium at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra here today.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said, �To improve the lot of the farmers belonging to plain tribes and backward classes, our government has been taking several schemes. Farm mechanisation scheme is one such programme for the welfare of the people of backward classes.� For economic empowerment of all the 26,247 villages in Assam, their productivity has to be increased and the Chief Minister�s Samagra Grammya Unnayan Achoni has been launched to stimulate productivity in all the villages of Assam.
Stating that Nature has its bounty in Assam, the Chief Minister said that all efforts should be made to strengthen the organic sector of Assam, which has the potential of paving the way for good health. He also urged the farmers to lay emphasis on organic farming and assured government help in this regard.
Sonowal professed, �On our quest for economic development, we should not ignore our environment, our Nature.�
Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s aim of making the Northeast �an organic hub� of the country, he called upon the farmers to contribute in their best possible way to transform Assam into an organic hub of the region.
It may be noted that altogether 225 tractors were distributed to the self-help groups engaged in agriculture.
Sonowal also called upon the beneficiaries to make good use of the tractors and use them for their economic development.
He also asked the WPT&BC Department to conduct an inspection of the tractors once in three months and examine their physical and mechanical health and undertake repairing steps if required to maintain a good maintenance legacy.
Under the scheme, the government has borne 75 per cent of the cost of each tractor and the remaining 25 per cent is to be borne by the beneficiary himself.
Forest and WPT&BC Minister Pramila Rani Brahma, MLA Thaneswar Basumatary, Chief Minister�s Media Adviser Hrishikesh Goswami, Legal Adviser Santanu Bharali, Additional Chief Secretary of WPT&BC Rajib Bora and a host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
