Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma: Gopinath Bordoloi kept Assam with India

1st Lok Sewa Awards given to 99 government staff

GUWAHATI: On the occasion of the first Lok Kalyan Diwas commemorating the death anniversary of Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma presented Lok Sewa Award to 10 non-gazetted state-level government employees at a central function held at Dispur here on Friday.

Altogether 99 state government employees - 10 at the state level and 89 at the district level - were conferred the Lok Sewa Award in recognition to their meritorious services. As a part of the award, each awardee was given a citation, Rs 25,000 and an extension of one year of their total service tenure. Hence, an awardee of the Lok Sewa Award will be superannuated at the age 61 years.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister paid rich tributes to Bharat Ratna Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi on his 72nd death anniversary said that Lok Kalyan Diwas is being celebrated as a mark of respect to the first Chief Minister of Assam and his unparalleled contribution to the state and its people. Terming Gopinath Bordoloi as the architect of modern Assam who played a great role in establishing colleges, a university and other institutions for creating human resources, Sarma said: "Assam is greatly indebted to Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi. It is because of his crucial role that Assam was saved from being part of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh."

The Chief Minister said that as a political leader Gopinath Bordoloi's success laid on the fact that he played a crucial in defeating the proposals of the Cabinet Mission Plan. No Assamese can forget the role of Gopinath Bordoloi in thwarting the evil design of the Cabinet Mission Plan which posed a great threat on the existence of Assam. Had the Cabinet Mission Plan been successful, the geography and history of Assam would have been different today. Besides Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Sarma also expressed his gratitude to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Saratchandra Bose who helped Assam to remain with India as one of its integral parts.

The Chief Minister said that even after Independence and partition of the country, Gopinath Bordoloi continued his fight to secure the future of Assam. Bringing the administration of Naga Hills, Mizo Hills districts, Khasia-Jayantia Hills, Garo Hills and Mikir Hills in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution and giving the 'Plains Tribe' status to the tribal living in the plains, Gopinath Bordoloi played a decisive role and left an indelible mark on the minds of the people of Assam.

The Chief Minister said that in only three years after independence, the Gopinath Bordoloi government had brought about a paradigm shift in infrastructure development and laid the foundation of a modern Assam. Sarma also expressed his gratitude to former Prime Minister Late Atal Behari Vajpayee for honouring Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi with the posthumous Bharat Ratna award.

It may be noted that along with the celebrations of Lok Kalyan Diwas, Assam marked the culmination of Mission Sadbhavana Phase-I today. The Chief Minister said that under the mission, the state government has been able to dispose of 2.75 lakh files out of the 3.24 lakh files opened so far in Assam Secretariat. The files will be classified and some files will be kept, some will be sent to archives and others will be disposed off permanently by putting them in the shredding machine. The Chief Minister also launched the process of shredding of files in Janata Bhawan.

Minister for GAD Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah, Additional Chief Secretary of the Transformation and Development Department Paban Borthakur, Principal Secretary of GAD Avinash Joshi, Principal Secretary of Administrative Reforms and Training Archana Verma, Gopinath Bordoloi's son Bolin Bordoloi and a host of other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

Earlier, the Chief Minister attended the samadhisthal of Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi at Nabagraha here today and paid rich tributes to the stalwart of the independence struggle. He also paid floral tributes to Surabala Bordoloi, wife of Gopinath Bordoloi, on the occasion, stated an official communiqué.

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