Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: Assam just tacked 403.62 square kilometers onto its protected forest network. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed the news on X. The move marks the largest single expansion of protected green space anywhere in India.
The added territory matches the total size of Jaipur city. Officials expect this to shore up wildlife safety and improve state conservation efforts. Sarma noted the update will help create a more contiguous conservation area around the Kaziranga zone. He described the move as an "unprecedented expansion of conservation efforts" for the state.
This push aims to grow the state's Protected Area Network significantly. The government intends to shield more land to keep local habitats intact. Authorities view this as a primary step in their long-term plan to secure forests and protect wildlife populations across Assam.
Updated at 19th August 2026 at 10:02am
Beyond the forest expansion, the state cabinet is diving into energy and infrastructure. Officials approved the Hydrocarbon Exploration, Production and Upstream Ecosystem Development Policy 2026. The move aims to break the state's reliance on aging oil fields by prodding companies to drill in risky, underexplored patches like Biswanath Chariali and Dhemaji. To entice firms, the government plans to waive land premiums unless a strike occurs and offer GST breaks on drilling rigs. The state currently pumps roughly 4 million metric tonnes of oil annually, and officials fear production will crater without these new finds.
The cabinet also locked in land for major academic projects, granting 576 bighas for IIM Guwahati and 200 bighas for Azim Premji University at Palashbari-Borduar. In an effort to cut through red tape, the government is moving registration for cooperative societies to a fully online, paperless system. Dairy outfits now get a 24-hour turnaround, while other societies gain automatic registration within 30 days.
Administrative boundaries are shifting too. The government greenlit eight new co-districts to speed up service delivery. They also rebranded the Mini Secretariat in Barak Valley to the Assam Secretariat, Barak Valley, Silchar, a move intended to house 32 major government departments under one roof to boost local efficiency.
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