Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The state cabinet today decided to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules 1935 by the Assam Repealing Bill, 2024.
CM said, "We have taken a significant step to ensure social security and justice for our Muslim daughters and sisters by putting additional safeguards against child marriage."
The Assam Repealing Bill will be laid on the floor of the Assembly in the next session of the house. A proper Act for Muslim marriage registration, in lieu of the earlier Act, will be introduced in the session
The state cabinet on Thursday also took several significant decisions on subjects like the development of Barak Valley and BTR, funds for cancer hospitals, VAT reduction on CNG stations, etc.
After the cabinet meeting, Ministers Jayanta Mallabaruah and Keshab Mahanta said before the media that to speed up the development works currently underway in Barak Valley, two ministers will travel there every month for three days to take stock of the developmental work by interacting with MLAs, organizations, local people, DCs, and SPs.
Mallabaruah said that Rs 401 crore from the SOPD fund has been approved by the cabinet as the first installment to BTR for development work. Under this fund, a total of Rs 800 crore will be given to BTR.
Mahanta said that under the Prime Minister Jan Arogya Yojana and Mukhya Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana schemes, Rs 375 crore has been released by the cabinet for reimbursement to hospitals for providing treatment to 66 lakh families. Under this scheme, each family can avail of treatment worth Rs 5 lakh annually.
Work on 18 cancer hospitals is ongoing in Assam by the Tata Trusts and the state government as a joint venture. Of this, 8 hospitals are already functioning while work is going on in the rest ten hospitals. Rs 200 crore was released today by the cabinet for the ongoing work under this project. Under this project, the Assam government has already spent Rs 1475 crore, and Tata Trusts has spent Rs 625 crore.
To encourage the use of CNG instead of fossil fuels like petrol and diesel, the state cabinet today reduced the VAT imposed on the fuel. The VAT amount was 14.5%, and it has now been reduced to 5%. Work is going on to establish 100 CNG stations across the state.
Also Read: Muslim Marriages Act: Gauhati High Court seeks Dispur’s response (sentinelassam.com)
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