Assam CM announces Cabinet expansion on December 7, four BJP MLAs to be sworn in

Dispur (Assam) [India], December 5 (ANI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Thursday that the state cabinet expansion will take place on December 7. Four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs will be inducted into the Assam cabinet and will take the oath of office at noon on that day.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Chief Minister Sarma shared, "Happy to share that the following colleagues will be sworn in as ministers in our cabinet on 7th December at 12 PM: Prasanta Phookan (MLA), Kaushik Rai (MLA), Krishnendu Paul (MLA), and Rupesh Goala (MLA). My best wishes to each of them!"

Happy to share that the following colleagues will be sworn in as ministers in our cabinet on 7th December at 12 PM:
1.Shri Prasanta Phookan, MLA
2.Shri Kaushik Rai, MLA
3.Shri Krishnendu Paul, MLA
4.Shri Rupesh Goala, MLA

My best wishes to each of them!

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) December 5, 2024

Prasanta Phookan represents Dibrugarh, Kaushik Rai is from Lakhipur, Krishnendu Paul is from Patharkandi, and Rupesh Goala is from Doomdooma.
Meanwhile, the Assam Cabinet has approved a series of key decisions aimed at improving infrastructure and education in the state. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the government has decided to ban the serving and consumption of beef in any restaurant, hotel, and public places across the state. The CM also stated that the Assam Cattle Preservation Act passed in 2021, has been quite successful in ensuring to curb the slaughter of cattle, and "now we have decided to stop the consumption of beef in public places."
Another decision taken by the Cabinet is to convert the four-lane stretch of road leading to Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport into a six-lane road. An additional amount of Rs. 116 crore for the six-lane road has been allocated from the state budget. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs. 474 crore.
The Cabinet also decided to institute a separate literary award after noted litterateur Dr Homen Borgohain for those receiving government pensions. A one-time assistance of Rs. 50,000 will be provided to pensioners to those already receiving any other pension. Additionally, the Cabinet also decided that the monthly literary pension would be given to individuals, excluding government employees.
The Cabinet decided to place the Sanskrit and Pali Tols under the Directorate of Secondary Education from the existing Directorate of Higher Education.
Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, CM Sarma said Assam would witness a new surge in development as projects worth Rs. 1 lakh crore are likely to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Advantage Assam Summit in February next year.
Disclosing the projects in detail, he outlined the expansion of the Bongaigaon Refinery to an additional 5 million MT, the expansion of the Namrup Fertilizer Plant at a cost of Rs. 10,000 crores, the Guwahati Ring Road project, the Kaziranga Elevated Corridor, the Numaligarh-Gohpur road tunnel, a new Expressway from Guwahati to Barapani and Panchgram at Rs. 25,000 crore, a bridge over the Brahmaputra connecting Morigaon and Darrang, two satellite townships at Jagiroad and Palasbari at an estimated cost of Rs. 10,000 crore, and a railway project connecting Guwahati to Gelephu in Bhutan.
The Assam Chief Minister also reiterated that the state's cabinet expansion will take place on December 7. (ANI)