Assam, Centre on war path over Sarbananda Sonowal meet boycott

GUWAHATI: Congress-ruled Assam government and NDA-led Centre is on collision course as the state government chooses to boycott the review Guwahati meeting of Union minister of state Sarbananda Sonowal. He was entrusted by the Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping minister Nitin Gadkari to review the road projects of Assam and expedite the same. Assam government has, however, said proper protocol was not followed in convening the meeting.

Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, sports and youth affairs, Sonowal told ET: “NDA government wants speedy development of roads and highways of North East India. Gadkari has entrusted me to convene a meeting and expedite development of roads and bridges.“ He added that the itinerary of the meeting was finalized and accordingly the respective minister for public works department ( PWD), Ajanta Neog along with other senior official of the department was informed about meeting in Guwahati on Tuesday.

Sonowal added: “Till Monday everything was alright. However, on Tuesday the state minister and other officials of PWD did not turn up. They have boycotted the meeting which is very unfortunate and is not in the interest of the development of the state. However we had a fruitful meeting and took some important decisions.“ BJP MPs attended the meeting. Assam minister and government spokesperson Rockybul Hussain said things have to be done in structured manner.

“I may call a meeting, however I cannot make it mandatory for officers of other department to attend the same.“

Earlier, UPA government has planned to invest Rs 33, 688 crore for construction of 6418km of roads under the special accelerated road development programme (SARDP-North East).