Assam opens Full-Fledged Secretariat in Silchar to bring administration closer to Barak Valley

The Barak Valley was given its own full-fledged secretariat by the Assam government, which has taken a giant leap towards decentralisation of administrative system and to connect government services to people of the valley.

It is officially declared as the Assam Secretariat at Srikona, outskirts of Silchar. It will take over the work of 32 of Assam’s 59 departments, thereby cutting down the travel to Dispur for the administration of these departments by the residents.

The new secretariat will fill the long-pending vacuum in administration between Barak valley and Brahmaputra valley, says Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Sharing with the social media, he says people from Barak Valley will no longer have to go to Guwahati and visit the administration.

The concept of setting up a separate administrative unit came when the first BJP government under then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal started to be formed, when it was imagined as a mini secretariat. Srikona complex foundation stone laid on 3rd March 2019.

Upon assuming office, Sarma extended the idea to a proper Secretariat to take care of the problems of geographical isolation from Dispur creating in the region. The building was built at a cost of approximately Rs 116 crore, and was inaugurated by Sarma on 14 March 2026.

The government is also on the fast track to the electronic filing system in order to shift the administrative process and records from being paper-based to electronic without having administrative staff to be physically present in Dispur.

The decision has special meaning for Barak Valley, which sees a compromised connectivity during floods and heavy rain and landsides.

The fact that the Government could possibly be considering Dibrugarh as Assam’s second capital could represent a broader decentralisation policy in the agenda of the Government’s Secretariat in Silchar.