Himanta flays Congress Govt for making Assam deprived of Oil Royalty

Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accused the Congress Government for depriving Assam of the share of crude oil royalty and also flayed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for putting his interest against the State. Addressing a press conference at the first day of the State Legislative Assembly, Himanta said that though the previous UPA Govt changed the royalty regime in 2008, the former Government which was headed by Tarun Gogoi, did not do anything for the interest of the State. He also accused that the State has lost around Rs 8,000 crore due to the fault of the Govt. Commenting on the issue, Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “The then State Government in Assam did not do anything even after the Supreme Court asked the government to give royalty to Gujarat based on the pre-discounted price from January 2014. But once the NDA Government came to power, Tarun Gogoi started raising the royalty issue and blaming the Centre.” Himanta Biswa Sarma further said that the Modi Govt has released Rs 1,480 crore for oil royalty for the period from January 2014, which is likely to boost the State Government present its budget next week.