Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday said his government would prepare long and short-term plans and implement these in a time-bound manner to bring the state’s economy back on track.

In a three-hour discussion with 29 economists here on Tuesday, the government took their suggestions on how to revive the state’s economy which has been hit by the nationwide lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The government has already taken a few steps like allowing farmers to carry on with their activities, including plucking tea leaves, and allowing standalone shops in the rural areas of green zone districts to open from Tuesday. However, the government is struggling to release the salaries of its employees.

After the meeting, Sonowal told reporters that the government had received many suggestions, including formation of economic task force upto the block level, identifying priority sectors of investment and starting business activities.

“Based on their suggestions the state government will prepare long and short-term plans which will be implemented in a time-bound manner,” Sonowal said. He, however, added that all decisions would be taken based on suggestions of the state health department, as fighting Covid-19 was the government’s top priority.

According to finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam had a buoyant economy before the Covid-19 pandemic. He claimed that the state clocked an “impressive” GDP growth of 12 to 16 per cent in the past three fiscals against the national average of six per cent.

“Assam’s devolution of Rs 24,000 crore per year from the central government’s pool of funds sustained the economy along with the state’s own earnings of nearly Rs 13,000 crore. In view of the financial slowdown, innovative measures must be devised to overcome this crisis,” Sarma said.

Sonowal stressed on the need to plug the loopholes in the system while cutting out unnecessary expenditures. He called for inter-department coordination to overcome the economic challenge while taking care of weavers, farmers, daily wage earners and others in equal measure through government interventions. He also stressed on harnessing the state’s potential through labour-intensive agri-based industries.

The chief minister said the economists also suggested that the government chalk out a 100-day action plan for restructuring the economic system. Prioritising expenditures and streamlining various sectors such as agriculture and livestock to overcome the situation through planned interventions are the government’s focus points, he added.

Agriculture minister Atul Bora and social welfare minister Pramila Rani Brahma also attended the meeting.

Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia on Tuesday wrote to Sarma, requesting him to prepare the state budget again, taking into account the economic aspects arising out of the Covid situation. He said the state government’s revenue collection and its devolution from the Centre would go down because of the pandemic. He requested Sarma to immediately spend the MLA local area development funds deposited with the offices of the deputy commissioners.