Sonowal attends 69th foundation day of Village Defence Organization at Duliajan

Sonowal, who attended as chief guest at the state level celebration of the 69th foundation day of the Village Defence Organization (VDO) at Duliajan, in Dibrugarh district on Monday also assured to take appropriate measures to resolve the pressing issues of the VDPs in a bid to boost their performance.

“The Village Defence Parties perform their duties with limited facilities in difficult and disadvantageous situations. The State Government will take all possible steps to solve their problems and ensure better working condition for them. Keeping this in mind, our Government has decided to increase the monthly remuneration of the VDPs from existing Rs. 1500 to Rs. 2500. Moreover, out of the six thousand unregistered VDPs, three thousand would be registered by the Government,” Sonowal said.

Recalling the contributions of late Hari Narayan Baruah, who founded the VDO, the Assam CM said that following his vision, the VDPs have tirelessly been working to ensure security and safety of people at village level.

“The responsibilities of the VDPs have become manifold in recent times. While performing their duties, they face so many challenges, which they never encountered earlier. They have to prepare themselves to overcome those challenges and take themselves along with technological and digital advancements,” Sonowal exhorted.

Further, highlighting various developmental initiatives launched by the central and state governments to improve the lives of the rural population, Sonowal called upon the VDPs to take the message of the schemes to every nook and corner of the villages for greater participation.

He also urged the VDPs to reinforce peace, harmony and brotherhood amongst the people of the state and work for promoting habits of cleanliness and personal hygiene.

Sonowal also invoked an additional responsibility upon the VDPs to stamp out superstition from the society and generate more awareness amongst village people to create tourist friendly environment in the rural areas.

Coinciding the programme, the Assam CM also handed over a cheque of Rs. 1 lakh to the next of kin of deceased VDP member Anteswar Mahanta who was killed by an insurgent outfit recently.

Sonowal presented awards to the best performing VDPs and best organizers in the programme.

Former president of Asom Sahitya Sabha Dr. Nagen Saikia, MP Rameswar Teli and DGP Mukesh Sahay also delivered speech in the meeting which was presided over by chief adviser of VDO Anjan Kumar Bora. MLAs Teros Gowala, Bimal Bora, Rituparna Baruah, Naren Sonowal, Sanjay Kishan and Binod Hazarika, Executive Director of OIL Pranjit Deka and a host of other dignitaries were also present in the meeting.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)