Assam Cabinet Approves Transfer of Paltan Bazar ASTC Land to Railways

GUWAHATI: Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) land in Paltan Bazar will be transferred to the Railways to construct a second entry gate to the Guwahati Railway Station, in order to ease the problems of passengers travelling to the station.

The approval for land transfer was given in the weekly state cabinet meeting on Monday.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted, “In today’s #AssamCabinet, we took a number of decisions pertaining to a second entry to the Guwahati Railway Station, exemption of property registration fees for ex-servicemen & their families, augmenting Assam's forensic science sector, etc.”

A total land area of 4 bigha, 4 katha and 19 lessa will be handed over to the railway authorities.

With this transfer, it is expected that ASTC will cease all operations of buses in the Paltan Bazar area. ASTC was operating a number of buses in the day and night time. Passengers found it convenient to board buses for different destinations from the centre of the city. This will no longer be the case.

Private bus operations, primarily that of night buses, had already ceased in the area ever since the ISBT was constructed on the highway bypass several years ago.

In return, ASTC will receive an equal value of land on EVL (Equitable Value of Land) basis at the Railway’s Jalukbari land, as well as depreciated value of its existing office structures at Paltan Bazar.

The benefits which will accrue with the construction of second entry point are;

Provide an entry to Guwahati Railway Station from the Paltanbazar side,

Improve passenger facilities and decongest the Paltanbazar area,

Facilitate construction of a new state-of-the-art Railway Terminal in Guwahati, Assam.

In the cabinet meeting on Monday, it was also decided that a new notification will be issued for the government employees, where it would be stated that the recruits will have to work in separate departments from now on.

The cabinet approved the Assam Mobility of Employees of State Government and Other establishment (For Optimum Utilisation of Available Manpower for Efficiency) Ordinance, 2023 which will enable mobility of Government establishment employees for alternative duties in another State establishment, by way of deputation or on secondment basis within and outside the state, in posts having the same pay scale and grade pay for a period as may be specified by the government.

It was also stated that the provisions of the Ordinance will be applicable to employees appointed after the issue of the ordinance, which means that existing employees shall not come under the purview of the ordinance.

Also Read: MoU to be signed for Rs 8,000 crore investment in Assam: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

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