Guwahati, Jan 25 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said the state government will start "Project Sadbhavana" from February 1 to clear pending files, some of which are lying unattended since 1990s. Sarma held an interaction with the bureaucrats, Assam Secretariat Service Officers, other employees of Janata Bhawan (secretariat) and heads of the different departments, and asked them to lend their hands for the success of the project. He said that as a potential step towards citizen-centric governance, the state government will launch "Project Sadbhavana" on February 1 to dispose of pending files to give succour to people as well as taking governance at the doorstep of citizens. Under the project, all the pending files till the period of May 10, 2021 will be taken up for disposal. In the next step, files following this period will be taken up. Interacting with the officers, Sarma said that the success of the project will be dependent on the cooperation of the employees of the state secretariat. "He, therefore, requested them to lend their cooperation towards the success of the project where in files from 1990"s and onwards will be disposed," an official release from CMO said. While announcing the project on October 29 last year, Sarma had said that as per his estimates, "around one lakh files are pending at the Secretariat and some may be lying there since the 90s". Sarma said that as part of the project, a portal will be created and citizens can apply through that portal citing the file numbers and correspondence details. Accordingly, the government will take steps for disposing of the files. Even without file numbers and correspondence details, the government will dispose of the files as per laid down procedures, he added. Sarma said that since the spirit of the project is to help people who are seeking government response, the officers and staff responsible for the implementation of the project should adopt sympathy and empathy for public interests. He also urged the officers to apply their minds for seamless transition of the present system to an e-office system which will be an offshoot of the project. PTI TR NN NN