Assam can avail of Rs 10,000 crore additional funds under PM's eco package

GUWAHATI: PM Narendra Modi's Rs 20 lakh crore worth 'Atmanirbhashil Bharat' package will give the Assam government an additional fund flow opportunity of Rs 10,000 crore and direct cash transfer of about Rs 3,000 crore to the people in addition to Rs 153 crore to the government to fight Covid-19.
"We whole-heartedly welcome the package. The Government of India has opened its windows and ensured that we can take as much additional funds up to Rs 10,000 crore cash buoyancy as loan through four financial interventions - special draw, wages and means advances, overdraft and enhancement of market borrowing limit," state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
He added, "This additional Rs 10,000 crore will be available as loan and is a big support to us. This has made sure that at least government employees will not be deprived of their salaries. How much we utilize depend on how the financial year progresses provided we fulfill few conditions like joining the 'one nation one ration' stream, go for power reforms and ease of doing business."
In addition, he said, "The Prime minister's schemes for the poor like Ujawal gas, Jan Dhan and 5 kg rice will infuse about Rs 3,000 crore directly to the beneficiaries. Even the cap of loan for self-help groups has been enhanced from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. So, the PM's 'Atmanirbashil Bharat' package will help provide a big rejuvenation to people of Assam, from agro to the industrial sector."
He said one crore women in the state have Jan Dhan accounts and under this package each of them will get Rs 500 for three months (April, May, June). "This means every jan dhan account holder will get Rs 1500 each and taking into account all the one crore account holders, Assam will get Rs 1500 crore alone in this segment," Sarma added.
Similarly, under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, there are 35 lakh beneficiaries and each one will get three LPG cylinders for free, which would amount to a total of Rs 735 crore in the state, taking the price of a cylinder to be Rs 700.
"There are also 85 lakh old age and widow pensioners in the state and each one of them will get RS 1,000 as ex-gratia, which means Rs 85 crore in total," Sarma added.
He said daily wages of workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has also been increased from Rs 182 to Rs 202.