Shah likely to visit Assamon Feb 20 on two-day tour

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit Assam on a two-day tour from February 20 to roll out a programme and take part in a CRPF parade, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday. Sarma said Shah will start his tour from Silchar in Cachar district of Barak valley, where he will launch the scheme under the second phase of the Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP).
“He (Shah) will reach Guwahati the next day and take part in the annual day parade of the CRPF. There will be an arms display and presentations on CRPF’s operations in Chhattisgarh and Kashmir, among other things,” he said.
Shah had last visited Assam, where assembly polls are due within two-three months, on January 30, to launch a series of projects and address two public meetings.
Sarma also said NCC cadets will be encouraged to witness the CRPF parade so that they are motivated to join the force. “Our youths give interviews for jobs in the Assam Police, but do not appear for the CRPF. We, therefore, plan to open a CRPF recruitment centre in Assam. We have already acquired land in Dhemaji district,” Sarma said.
On the recent aerial shows of the Indian Air Force, he said, “Earlier, there were many Assamese in the IAF. However, that number dropped to almost zero during the last decade. The series of aerial shows in the state aim to motivate youths to join the forces.”
The Union government had approved the Vibrant Villages Programme-II (VVP-II) in April 2025, as a Central Sector Scheme with a total outlay of Rs 6,839 crore until 2028-29.
The scheme was launched for the comprehensive development of select strategic villages located in blocks abutting international land borders (ILB), excluding the northern border already covered under VVP-I.
The VVP-II is being implemented in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, J&K, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, officials said.
The VVP-I was launched in February, 2023 for villages abutting the northern border in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Ladakh.
The programme envisages focused areas of intervention in the selected villages for creating livelihood generation opportunities through the promotion of tourism and cultural heritage, skill development and entrepreneurship, development of cooperative societies, and cultivation of medicinal plants and herbs, they said.
The interventions also include providing road connectivity to unconnected villages, village infrastructure, health facilities, education infrastructure, television and telecom connectivity.