Minority certificates to six religious communities, including Muslims, in Assam

Cabinet decided that the minority certificates would be issued to Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis

Minority certificates would be provided to six religious communities, including Muslims, in Assam, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said on Sunday.

The State Cabinet decided that the minority certificates would be issued to Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis and the modalities will be worked out accordingly, Mr. Mahanta said at the media briefing after the Cabinet meeting in Guwahati.

The Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also decided to pay a total of ₹12.63 crore to 1,263 families of workers of the Doloo Tea Estate as a goodwill gesture for their cooperation in the development of the Greenfield airport at Silchar.

Each family will be provided ₹1 lakh as compensation for their cooperation, he said.

The State Government had earlier announced a compensation of ₹50 crore for the acquisition of the land at Doloo Lalbagh and Mainagarh tea gardens for setting up the greenfield airport and had already released ₹2.37 crore as the first instalment.

The Cabinet also decided to pay ₹142.50 crore against the outstanding Provident Funds dues of workers of the State-owned Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL), Mahanta said.

In the interest of the tea garden workers, the Cabinet also approved the rationalisation of valuation and fair compensation for acquisition of land. The zonal value for tea land will be determined on the basis of registered sale deeds of preceding three years in the district with the floor value being 10% of the nearest agricultural land, he said.