CM Sarbananda Sonowal attends VDP Foundation Day at Silchar

GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday attended the 71st Foundation Day of Village Defence Party at the Parade Ground in Silchar and spoke about the importance of Village Defence Party (VDP) in maintaining law and order situation in the villages. People living in 26 thousand villages of the State must strive to uphold the age-old unity and harmony among all sections of the society and the ideals of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika and Hemanga Biswas must be followed to establish Assam as a developed state, he said.

Paying tributes to the founder of VDP Harinarayan Barua, the Chief Minister urged the VDP personnel to work for removing the superstitions and wrong notions from the villages through awareness generation and strengthen the democratic values. He also asked them to be prepared to face all future challenges while appreciating the force for establishing itself at the national level.

Saying that the State Government was paying equal importance to Barak Valley along with Brahmaputra Valley, the Chief Minister highlighted the need to have regular interaction among the people of both the valleys to bring about rapid development in the entire State. He also lamented the apathy of the previous State government towards VDPs of the state as no step was taken to celebrate the foundation day of VDP in the Barak Valley districts during that time.

The Chief Minister also said that the present State government was taking all steps to bring equal development of all areas following the motto of Prime Minister Narendra Modi - Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikash, and Sabka Viswas and strong measures have been taken to develop the infrastructure of Barak Valley. He also said that Prime Minister Modi had promised to give citizenship to those facing religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan before the parliamentary elections and he has now acted on his commitment.

Directing the administrations of the three Barak valley districts to ensure corruption-free implementation of government schemes, Sonowal urged the VDPs to help in the right execution of schemes at the Panchayat level. He also announced that an inter-district football tournament would be started by the State Government in memory of VDP founder Harinarayan Barua where the winner would be awarded Rs 3 lakh, 1st runner up would get Rs 2 lakh and the 2nd runner up would be given Rs 1 lakh respectively.

On the sidelines, he asserted that the door was always open for members of militant organizations to come for talks and that the State government was willing to talk with all such groups to bring permanent peace to the State. He also presented certificates of appreciation to those VDP members who have rendered extraordinary service in the line of duty.

Forest and Environment Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, MP Rajdweep Roy, former Union Minister Kabindra Purkayastha, former Deputy Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly Dilip Paul, MLAs Mihir Chand Jain, Kishore Nath, Mihir Kanti Shome were also present among others at the programme. Later the Chief Minister also attended the concluding ceremony of golden jubilee celebrations of NC College at Badarpur, Karimganj and urged the students to work towards all-round development of the society, stated a press release.

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