Guwahati, May 17: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state government is preparing key policy initiatives in healthcare and mineral exploration following a series of departmental review meetings aimed at strengthening long-term development plans.
Sharing updates through social media, Sarma said the Health and Medical Education Department has been directed to speed up efforts towards building a “Swasth Assam”, with emphasis on strengthening healthcare infrastructure and expanding medical education facilities across the state.
During the review, the Chief Minister assessed the progress of 10 medical colleges currently under construction in Assam and instructed officials to gradually introduce advanced healthcare services including robotic surgeries, liver transplant facilities and the use of artificial intelligence in medical processes.
He also announced that every district in the state has been directed to initiate work on establishing nursing colleges to improve healthcare workforce capacity in the years ahead.
“We reviewed the progress of proton beam therapy, GMCH expansion and functioning of Ayushman Bharat, Ayushman Assam and our Cancer Centres,” Sarma said.
According to him, the discussions also examined patient care facilities in government hospitals, medicine availability and vacancies in the healthcare sector, with the issues reviewed in detail.
On the mining sector, Sarma said Assam possesses reserves of rare earth elements and other strategic minerals that could play an important role in emerging Industry 4.0 technologies.
He said officials have been instructed to begin exploration work in accordance with Government of India policies. The Chief Minister added that several ongoing mineral exploration projects have already drawn investment commitments exceeding Rs 50,000 crore.
At the same time, he stressed that any mining activity undertaken in the state must remain sustainable and function within what he described as the existing “green framework”.
Meanwhile, Ravi Kota said the government has also started efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into governance and public services across departments.
Kota stated that a Steering Committee on AI Adoption and Implementation recently reviewed the progress of Assam’s AI roadmap, following directions issued by the Chief Minister earlier this year.
According to him, departments were asked to identify potential AI applications for governance, administrative functions and public service delivery. An AI inventory exercise carried out across departments has so far identified 343 project proposals across more than 50 departments, categorised under 11 thematic clusters.
He said the government now plans to move from the idea stage to implementation through a prioritised framework centred on common digital infrastructure. Discussions also included a proposed five-layer architecture for AI adoption, expansion of AI-driven citizen services, grievance redressal mechanisms and data governance systems.
Kota added that the proposals would be further refined as part of Assam’s broader strategy for digital transformation and next-generation governance reforms.
