Grateful to PM Modi for including Assam in vibrant village programme: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati, April 4 (IANS) Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for including Assam in the second phase of the vibrant village programme following a cabinet decision of the Union government.

Taking to X handle, Sarma wrote, “We are grateful to Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji for including Assam in Vibrant Villages 2. We look forward to implementing this scheme in an effective manner.”

“As seen from the first edition, this programme has made a significant impact in controlling cross-border crime and integrating border villages into the national mainstream,” he added.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday approved the Vibrant Villages Programme -II (VVP-II) as a Central Sector Scheme (100 per cent Centre funding), furthering its commitment to the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047 for ‘Safe, Secured and Vibrant land borders’.

The Programme would help in the comprehensive development of the villages located in the blocks abutting international land borders (ILBs), other than the Northern border already covered under VVP-I. With a total outlay of Rs 6,839 crore, the programme shall be implemented in select strategic villages in the States/UTs of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, J&K (UT), Ladakh (UT), Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal till the FY 2028-29.

The objective of the programme is to create better living conditions and adequate livelihood opportunities to ensure prosperous and safe borders, control trans-border crime and assimilate the border population with the nation and inculcate them as ‘eyes and ears of the border guarding forces’, crucial for internal security.

The programme shall provide funds for infrastructure development within the village or a cluster of villages, value chain development (through cooperatives, SHGs, etc), border specific outreach activity, education infrastructure like SMART classes, development of tourism circuits and works/projects to create diverse and sustainable livelihood opportunities in the border areas. The interventions would be border-specific, state and village-specific, based on Village Action Plans prepared in a collaborative approach.

--IANS

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