GUWAHATI, March 25 � Accusing the previous NDA regime at the Centre of being �callous� with regard to Assam, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said the State has made rapid strides during the Congress regime.
Addressing the media here, Gogoi also laid down papers to prove that Assam�s progress on all fronts have been better than the Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat during the last few years.
Gogoi said Assam fared badly during the time when the BJP-led NDA was ruling at the Centre and the PK Mahanta-led AGP was in power in Dispur. He said while the NDA regime was miserly in Plan allocations, Mahanta also failed to espouse the cause of the State before the Centre.
The Chief Minister said that while BJP always raises the issue of illegal immigrants before elections, his government has succeeded in erecting border fences, intensifying patrolling, taking up NRC update and strengthening the Foreigners' Tribunals.
Gogoi said the Plan allocation fell by over 13 per cent year-on-year in 2000-01 to Rs 1,521.28 crore. It was only after the Congress came to power in Dispur in 2001 that allocations increased and have now reached Rs 12,500 crore.
He said the period when the NDA regime was at the Centre and the AGP government was in Assam was one of the worst, with a plethora of problems gripping the State.
Trying to blunt the edge of Modi, Gogoi produced papers before the media highlighting the contrast between growth rates in Assam and Gujarat.
The papers showed that 124 persons committed suicide in Gujarat due to bankruptcy in 2010 as against only 15 in Assam, while there were over 1.30 lakh cognizable crimes in Gujarat in 2012 compared to over 77,000 here.
