Assam sets Dec 31 deadline for pending business reforms

Assam has set December 31, 2026 as the deadline to finish pending business and deregulation reforms, and January 1, 2027 as the target for moving every government office onto the e-Office system, following a monthly review of the state's senior-most secretaries.

Chief Secretary Ravi Kota said on social media on Sunday that the review covered governance reforms, development priorities and follow-up on decisions from the latest District Commissioners' Conference, PTI reported via Hindustan Times. India Today NE said the 21st Monthly Review Meeting was held at the Kaziranga Conference Hall.

Business reforms by year-end

On deregulation, the meeting reviewed progress under Deregulation 2.0, the State Business Reform Action Plan and its district-level version. The focus was on simplifying regulatory procedures, making it easier to do business, and closing all pending reforms by December 31.

Financial items on the agenda included the Viksit Assam proposal, implementation of the Green Cess, submission of annual accounts by societies and public sector undertakings for calculating Gross State Value Added, and progress under the SNA-SPARSH system for releasing central scheme funds. Departments were asked to comply on time and use public money more efficiently.

Three lakh files still on e-Office

According to the review, pending files on e-Office fell by 7 per cent, but 3,04,288 files are still awaiting action. The target of bringing all government offices onto the platform by January 1, 2027 was repeated.

Other administrative items included delegating powers to Co-District Commissioners, the Sewa Setu online services portal and progress under Project Sadbhavana, the drive to clear pending files. Preparations for Mission Sadbhavana 3.0 were also discussed.

Councils and districts

The meeting looked at the working of 16 State-Level Sectoral Councils meant to bring in feedback from the ground and from stakeholders. It also reviewed the Aspirational Districts and Aspirational Blocks programmes, Sustainable Development Goal indicators, and follow-up on recommendations of the North Eastern Council's High Level Task Force and the Chief Secretaries' Conferences.

For the Sixth Schedule autonomous councils, the review called for scheme-specific memorandums of understanding with line departments to carry out centrally sponsored schemes, with nodal officers named and monthly reviews held. The message from the meeting was that decisions taken at review meetings must show up as measurable gains in how quickly and well services reach people.