Assam mulls financial help for needy

GUWAHATI: Assam government is contemplating financial assistance for over four and a half million needy families if the lockdown period is prolonged by 10 to 15 days beyond March 31, cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday. Sarma added that he would soon announce an economic plan to steer the state and its people through the lockdown period.
Sarma informed the House that in case a circumstance comes when the financial assistance needs to be given, the assembly would have to sit and amend the annual budget to make provisions for the help."With the lockdown, there are problems for sure. What will happen to the tea garden workers who gets his wages every Saturday? What will happen to the daily wage labourers? How do we compensate them. I really don't have a quick-fix answer to these concerns," Sarma said.
"April is usually the poorest month for the state government. Somehow, we can pull through till March 31 but if we need to extend the lockdown till April 10 or 15, what happens then?," Sarma questioned. He added, "If we have to prolong the lockdown period, we may have to take some drastic steps and even amend the state budget. Our target will be the population. We have data of bank accounts 2.7 lakh labourers for whom we had opened bank accounts. We also have data of bank accounts of 8 lakh tea garden workers and our biggest weapon is the Ujawala scheme under which we have data of over 34 lakh account holders to whom the LPG subsidies are given."
He said free rice to the BPL families, which was promised in this budget, will be given to the people from April 1. Sarma reminded the legislators that the state probably has entered the toughest period of the year. "From April, the Japanese Encephalitis season starts which has a much higher mortality rate than Covid-19. Thereafter, the floods begin and most of the embankments are under repair. I appeal to all to pray for the best and prepare for the worst," he said.
He added, "We have a crisis here. There will be no Bihu celebration this year and artistes, too, will face hardships. There are no tourists in Kaziranga and people associated with the tourism sector are facing innumerable problems."