The Assam cabinet on Saturday decided that a chief minister from now onwards will no longer be entitled to life-long government accommodation and security cover once he demits office.
“The new policy will have prospective effect, that is from me onwards. This policy will not curtail the benefits extended to former chief ministers Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, (late) Tarun Gogoi or Sarbananda Sonowal,” Sarma said in his first New Year interaction with the reporters here.
However, security cover will be provided, if required, if there is a real threat and only after assessment by the board constituted for providing security cover, Sarma said.
Saturday’s cabinet meeting, the first of the new year, chaired by Sarma reversed an earlier cabinet decision taken by the Tarun Gogoi cabinet in 2015 extending life-long government accommodation and the same security cover.
“However, the changes will have prospective effect from myself onwards,” Sarma said. While Mahanta and Sonowal, now a Union cabinet minister, avail government accommodation in Guwahati as does the family of late Tarun Gogoi. Mahanta also continues to enjoy Z plus security cover.
Sarma also announced that his government will minimise personal security cover provided to political leaders, bureaucrats, garden managers and businessmen.
“We have to deploy over 4,000 police personnel for VIP security. I want to cut it down to half. Security will be need-based and only after due assessment by a board to be headed by the DGP. For most, personal security cover is a status symbol than real threat,” Sarma said in an apparent move to end the well-entrenched VIP culture in the state.
The withdrawn security personnel could be deployed to boost policing.
Sarma said a security review is on to cut down the number of vehicles in his carcade as well as security personnel when he is moving around in Guwahati from 22 to around seven-eight vehicles.
Sarma further credited the tribal civil society and student organisations for the decline in insurgency in the tribal belt but said work was on to bring the Ulfa on board.
“The era of tribal militancy in the state is over as all tribal groups have come forward for talks. Ulfa’s sovereignty demand is a hurdle but the positive side is that both the outfit and the government want a negotiated settlement. I am looking at 2022 as a year of hope. There will be some positive movement on the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act, 1958 front in the state,” he said. The AFSPA in the state comes up for review in February.
Sarma later tweeted, “We have held 31 Cabinet meetings in the last 8 months, several militant organisations have returned to mainstream, @assampolice went all out in ensuring law & order. We have been successful in ensuring minimal casualties on New Year’s Eve.”
Sarma himself was on the streets on New Year Eve till around 2am to encourage security personnel in the ongoing drive to check rash and drink driving.
