Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday handed over ex gratia to persons who had suffered bullet injuries during the six-year Assam Movement.

Altogether 268 out of 396 bullet-injury victims were handed over Rs 2 lakh each as ex gratia along with a citation at a programme organised at Maniram Dewan Trade Centre here. This was the first phase of the process and the remaining victims will be given ex gratia later.

The BJP-led government of the state had given Rs 5 lakh to the families of each martyr of the Assam Movement in 2016 as an acknowledgement of their sacrifice.

It is also constructing a park on a 100-bigha land here in their memory.

In his speech on Thursday, Sonowal said Rs 2 lakh was a “tiny effort” of the government to acknowledge the ideology of the bullet-injury victims.

Sonowal lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts to implement the clauses of the Assam Accord and alleged the earlier governments had done very little to implement the accord.

“One of the most important promises of the Assam Accord was to seal the border. Previous governments could not take realistic step, but Modiji has signed the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh so that the border can be sealed. The sealing of the border is going to be over,” Sonowal said.

On Wednesday, the chief minister had urged people to maintain the standard of hospitality — for which Assam is known — as tourist footfall has significantly gone up in the state. He said this during the foundation stone-laying ceremony of a new flyover connecting RG Baruah Road with Bishnu Rabha flyover at Ganeshguri Chariali in the city.

Speaking on the occasion, Sonowal said: “Guwahati has gained a lot of prominence in recent years due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Act East policy. Infrastructure upgrades will go a long way in establishing it as one of India’s smart cities and as a gateway to the Asean countries.

“The new initiative will significantly help in easing traffic congestion at Ganeshguri which is one of the busiest commercial junctions of the city. The Guwahati State Capital Region has been notified apart from implementation of various development projects to develop Guwahati as a smart city and improve living standards of the city’s residents.”

PWD minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said once completed, the new arm of the flyover would facilitate smooth traffic movement directly from RGB Road to Khanapara and from Ulubari to RGB Road.

“Traffic congestion will reduce by 35 per cent as a result of the new flyover. An 18-month completion period has been fixed for the project. The PWD department has already mooted construction of flyovers connecting Ganesh Mandir to Ganeshguri and at GNRC point.”

The PWD has taken up construction of the 476-metre flyover with a financial outlay of Rs 58.76 crore.

Guwahati MP Bijoya Chakraborty, Dispur MLA Atul Bora, commissioner and secretary of PWD Rajesh Kemprai were present on the occasion.

Additional reporting by Abinash Kalita