Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently said that his government is linking every assembly constituency to just one circle office in a bid to streamline the administration. Currently, assembly seats are linked to the district headquarters and one district may have several circles and constituencies. ”We are linking every constituency to just one circle office to streamline the administration as we want to synchronise both revenue work and developmental work,” the chief minister said on the second day of the 5th Deputy Commissioners conference here.
Sarma said that his government has initiated large-scale changes in the district administration and a deputy commissioner must not get involved in routine administrative work but spend time on the overall progress in the district across key developmental parameters. Deputy commissioners will be assisted by three additional deputy commissioners who will look after revenue, infrastructure and social welfare, he said.
”The DCs will function as the chief secretary of the district and focus on key development parameters. All work related to the district will now be communicated to them directly by line ministries”, the chief minister said. He said that the guardian ministers will ”function as the chief minister while the DC as the chief secretary in the district.” In 2021, Sarma appointed ‘guardian ministers’ for districts, who will look after various government schemes and resolve issues related to them.