The North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) presented its 14th budget on Tuesday, August 4, proposing a total outlay of ₹1,232 crore for the financial year 2026-27, with the Sixth Schedule body placing its heaviest emphasis on education, sports, youth empowerment and tourism development across Dima Hasao district. The budget was tabled by Executive Member in-charge of Finance Donpainon Thaosen during a special session of the Council held at its headquarters in Haflong, in the presence of NCHAC Chairman Mohet Hojai, and was passed with the support of all members present in the House.
Background
The North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council administers Dima Hasao, Assam's hill district carved out under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which grants a measure of legislative and executive autonomy to designated tribal areas of the Northeast over land, forests, local customary law, and a range of development functions. Unlike Assam's plains districts, which are run through the standard state administrative machinery, Dima Hasao's day-to-day governance — from school infrastructure to rural roads to revenue collection — runs substantially through NCHAC, making its annual budget session one of the most consequential financial events for the district's roughly 2.14 lakh residents each year.
The Council's special budget session was originally scheduled to run across two days, August 3 and 4, giving members time to debate allocations before the finance member's formal presentation. This year's budget is the 14th presented by the current dispensation and arrives against the backdrop of the Assam government's own 2026-27 state budget, which NCHAC leadership publicly welcomed as supportive of the hill council's development priorities.
Dima Hasao has in recent years positioned itself as a growing hill tourism and eco-tourism destination in Assam, alongside push efforts on mining royalties, timber and non-timber forest produce, and local trade as own-revenue sources — all factors that shaped this year's budget priorities.
Key Details
The ₹1,232 crore outlay marks a rise of close to ₹230 crore over the previous year's budget of ₹1,002.11 crore for 2025-26, continuing a multi-year trend of expanding allocations for the hill council. Within the new budget:
- ₹889 crore has been earmarked under the State-Owned Priority Development (SOPD) scheme for the normal sector, which covers salaries for Council employees along with priority development works.
- ₹232 crore has been set aside under establishment expenditure specifically to clear pending salaries, gratuities and other service-related dues owed to Council employees, including Class I and Class II officers — addressing a backlog that has periodically drawn criticism from staff associations in the hill council system.
- A new Member of Autonomous Council (MAC) Area Development Fund has been introduced for the first time this year, allocating ₹30 crore to be distributed across NCHAC constituencies for locally-directed development activities, giving elected members direct discretionary funds for their areas.
- Sectoral priority has been given to education, sports, youth empowerment and tourism, which Council leadership described as the pillars of this year's development plan for Dima Hasao.
Separately, NCHAC's Chief Executive Member Debolal Gorlosa has set an ambitious target of lifting the Council's own annual revenue collection from roughly ₹120 crore at present to ₹500 crore — a more than four-fold increase — reducing the hill council's dependence on state and central transfers over time. While the budget document itself does not detail a specific timeline for reaching that revenue figure, the target was cited by NCHAC leadership as central to the Council's medium-term financial planning alongside the FY2026-27 spending allocations.
At a Glance: NCHAC Budget, 2025-26 vs 2026-27
| Metric | 2025-26 Budget | 2026-27 Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Total outlay | ₹1,002.11 crore | ₹1,232 crore |
| SOPD (normal sector) allocation | ₹312.66 crore | ₹889 crore |
| Establishment expenditure | ₹689.44 crore | ₹232 crore (arrears/dues focus) |
| New dedicated constituency fund | Not present | ₹30 crore (MAC Area Development Fund) |
| Budget presented by | NCHAC Finance wing | Donpainon Thaosen, EM (Finance) |
| Stated own-revenue target | ~₹120 crore (current run-rate) | ₹500 crore (medium-term goal) |
Note: the sharp shift in the SOPD-versus-establishment split between the two years reflects how each year's Council has classified salary and arrears spending within its budget heads, rather than a single like-for-like reduction in establishment costs; the 2026-27 budget explicitly carves out ₹232 crore specifically for clearing pending dues as a distinct establishment line.
Local Impact
For the roughly 700-plus Council employees, including Class I and Class II officers, the ₹232 crore earmarked for pending salaries, gratuities and service dues is likely the most immediate, tangible line item — arrears in autonomous council administrations have historically caused friction with staff unions in the Sixth Schedule areas of Assam and Meghalaya. Clearing this backlog, if implemented as budgeted, would remove a recurring source of local administrative disruption.
For residents more broadly, the stated focus on education, sports, youth empowerment and tourism signals continued investment in school infrastructure, youth sports facilities, and the district's tourism assets — an important employment and income lever in a district where formal-sector jobs remain limited outside government service, mining, and the railways. The new MAC Area Development Fund gives each elected member a direct pool of money for constituency-level works — a mechanism that can speed up small local infrastructure projects (village roads, drinking water points, community halls) that might otherwise wait years in a centralised budget process, though it also concentrates discretionary spending decisions with individual members.
The Council's push to more than quadruple its own revenue collection, if achieved, would have a longer-term impact: greater own-revenue capacity typically means more flexibility for the Council to fund local priorities without waiting on state or central disbursements, which in Sixth Schedule councils can be delayed or tied to specific centrally-sponsored schemes.
What Happens Next
With the budget passed by the special session, implementation now shifts to NCHAC's various departments and the finance wing under Donpainon Thaosen, which will oversee disbursement across the SOPD, establishment, and new constituency-fund heads through the financial year. Council employees awaiting arrears under the ₹232 crore establishment allocation will be watching for the pace of actual disbursement, a point on which hill council budgets in Assam have not always matched execution to allocation in the past.
On the revenue side, achieving the ₹500 crore target set by Chief Executive Member Debolal Gorlosa would require sustained work on strengthening collection from mining royalties, forest produce, local trade and tourism-linked revenue streams; NCHAC leadership is expected to outline more specific revenue-mobilisation measures over the coming months as the financial year progresses. The Council's next major public financial reckoning will likely come at the mid-year review point, when actual collections and expenditure against the ₹1,232 crore outlay become clearer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC)?
NCHAC is the Sixth Schedule autonomous council that governs Dima Hasao district in Assam, with powers over local administration, land, forests, and a range of development functions distinct from the state's regular district administration.
How much is the NCHAC budget for 2026-27?
The Council presented a total budget outlay of ₹1,232 crore for the 2026-27 financial year, its 14th budget, tabled on August 4 by Executive Member in-charge of Finance Donpainon Thaosen.
How does this compare to last year's budget?
The 2026-27 outlay of ₹1,232 crore is higher than the 2025-26 budget of ₹1,002.11 crore, an increase of roughly ₹230 crore year-on-year.
What is the MAC Area Development Fund?
It is a newly introduced ₹30 crore fund in the 2026-27 budget that gives each Member of the Autonomous Council a direct allocation for development activities in their constituency.
What are the top spending priorities in this budget?
The Council has prioritised education, sports, youth empowerment, tourism, and clearing ₹232 crore in pending salaries, gratuities and dues owed to Class I and Class II Council employees.
What revenue target has NCHAC set for itself?
Chief Executive Member Debolal Gorlosa has set a target of raising NCHAC's own annual revenue from around ₹120 crore currently to ₹500 crore, reducing reliance on state and central transfers.
Who are the key officials behind this budget?
NCHAC Chairman Mohet Hojai and Executive Member in-charge of Finance Donpainon Thaosen led the budget session, with Chief Executive Member Debolal Gorlosa setting the Council's revenue-growth goals.
Where was the budget session held?
The special budget session was held at NCHAC's headquarters in Haflong, Dima Hasao district, on August 3 and 4, 2026.
Sources
The Assam Tribune, The Sentinel (Assam), Northeast Now
