By Anup Biswas

Haflong : With rest of the country the district of Dima Hasao, the most beautiful district of Assam celebrated the 73^rd Independence Day with great enthusiasm at the Kendriya Vidyalaya Playground near Assam Rifles on Thursday

The three days programme was organized with series of activities involving school and college students, NGOs, APEX bodies, officials from various departments and general public.

After paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi by the chief guest, Debolal Gorlosa, Chief Executive Member (CEM) of North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC), the ceremonial flag was hoisted followed by the community singing of National Anthem, address by the chief guest, parade, cultural programme and distribution of prizes of the winners of various competitions including the best parade team.

During his speech CEM Debolal Gorlosa lauded the achievements of his government in the district. Praising the Prime Minister, Assam Chief Minister and Assam Finance Minister for their contribution towards the development in progress, CEM spoke about his vision on various projects about to begin as per the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between the central government, Assam government and Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) back on 8^th October, 2012.

Talking about the first-ever Bamboo Industrial Park in North East to be setup in Dima Hasao district, an amount of 50 crore is to be funded by the DoNER. This unique concept will have 10 sub centres to be equally distributed within various corners of the district.

For the development and setting up of Sambudhan Park at Maibang, an amount of 70 crore is being funded which will restructure the face of the sub division in the tourism map which will definitely bring glory and opportunity for the local people.

He also informed about the successful handing over to NCHAC, the plot of land in national capital, Delhi, for construction of Dimasa Bhawan which in itself is a huge achievement of his team at council. The laying of foundation stone will be on 19^th August next at Dwarka, programme which had earlier been planned but had been postpond.

Referring about the division of the district of Dima Hasao into two parts, he said there should be no room of doubt among the people as this is being done for the betterment of the people of this district. He appealed the people to have faith in him and the government who has but everything good for the people of Dima Hasao in their minds.

Addressing the problem faced regarding scarcity of water everywhere, he said, “Our district has been identified as the water stressed district for which the Dima Hasao has been taken up for Jal Shakti Abhiyan project. Now it is our duty to work towards water conservation and restoration so that the future generation may not suffer”.  It is to be noted that Dima Hasao is the only district in Assam taken up by the government of India under the Prime Minister’s Jal Shakti Abhiyan project which will help accelerate water harvesting and conservation measures.

He also spoke on subjects of planting saplings , setting up of Ekalavya schools paving way for better educational opportunities in Dima Hasao, development of roads, solutions of salary issues faced by the council employees. He stated that approximately 300 educated youth have been given jobs during his tenure in council and he plans to recruit 100 more in short-while.

CEM Gorlosa is positive that he along with his team of members in the council will bring changes as the state government as well as the central government have extended their support by funding 100 crore for the development of Haflong town and 10 crore for each 28 constituencies under NCHAC apart from the regular budget of 170 crore which too has been increased than previous years.

Others where present during the celebration were Executive Members and MACs of NCHAC, MLA, Chairperson, Principal Secretary, DC, SP, Army Commandant, officers from various departments, Media, senior citizens and general public.

Programme ended with distribution of prizes of the winners among the contingents. Prizes were also distributed to winners of various cultural and literary programmes held last two days.