GUWAHATI, July 2 - The State government has rescinded the process of allotment of the 60-bigha plot of land of the erstwhile Central Jail at Fancy Bazar to private parties for construction of shopping malls, and instead decided to develop a botanical garden in the area.
Announcing this before the media today, Guwahati Development Department Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the previous Congress government had started the process for handing over the huge plot to private parties for construction of shopping complexes and malls after the Central Jail was shifted to Boragaon.
�But we have annulled the previous government�s decision and resolved to develop a botanical garden in the area. This is in sync with our policy of developing Guwahati as a green city. The GMDA has been asked to start work on the garden from this year itself,� Sarma said.
The botanical garden will have a wide variety of plants, including medicinal plants and plants endemic to the State. It will also have a walking track.
Sarma added that a parking lot would also be constructed at Fancy Bazar for easing the traffic chaos in and around the area.
Pension system: Sarma also announced that the government has started the process for streamlining the pension system. �As many as 9,000 pension-related files had been pending when we took charge of the government. We have cleared 1,800 files within a very short span and the process will continue till the entire process is streamlined so that no pensioner has to face inconveniences for getting his or her pension,� he said.
Sarma added that from April next year the entire pension system will be eased and a person will get his or her pension within three months of retirement. He said that the government would recruit on contractual basis 25 retired officials for streamlining pension-related work.
