FM Nirmala Sitharaman on two-day visit to Assam, Tripura from Friday

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will embark on a two-day visit to Assam and Tripura from Friday, an official release said.

She will participate in an investiture ceremony for conferring Presidential Awards for Specially Distinguished Record of Service to officers and staff of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in Guwahati.

The Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate, which was announced on this year's Republic Day, will be awarded to 29 officers and staff of CBIC.

They were selected on the basis of their exemplary performance in their respective field of service over the years.

The awardees selected this year include officers from all cadres of the service, who have consistently performed with distinction in their various assignments, including prevention of smuggling, detection of tax evasion, detection of trade-based money laundering and foreign exchange violations, besides contributions in tax policy formulation, revenue mobilisation, automation of business processes, and capacity building and training, the release said.

The ceremony will also be attended by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra and CBIC Chairman Vivek Johri.

The Union ministers will later leave for Tripura to attend the inauguration of the GST Bhavan at Agartala, and the next day they will visit the Integrated Check Posts at Srimantpur in Tripura, the release added.