NEC Meeting
The Meghalaya Chief Minister, Captain W.A. Sangma has deprecated the sloppy performance of the Third Level Air Service in the North-East. Participating at the 24th meeting of the North Eastern Council here on Sept 29, he regretted that air service, which was introduced primarily for the region, had cut a sorry figure.
Captain Sangma said that the remote areas of the North East were still left out of the purview of the air service. He called upon the NEC to take initiative to improve the situation.
He also focused the attention of the Council to the failing telecommunication of services in the region. The tele-link between state capital and the district headquarters was “very poor.”
Captain Sangma referred to the ban in respect of creation of new posts imposed by the Centre, and pleaded that such moratorium should not be imposed in the North-East. The NEC Secretary, Mr P H Trivedi told the meeting that the Council was planning to purchase on Dornier air craft in the 7th Plan to strengthen the services in the isolated areas.
Earlier, inaugurating the meeting, the NEC Chairman, Mr Bhishma Narayan Singh said that NEC draft plan for 7th Plan had an outlay of Rs. 979.31 crores. Of these nearly 85% would be earmarked for transport, communication, manpower water and power development schemes.
Mr Singh said that the outlook for power generation was favorable with the commissioning of Loktak and one unit (25 MW) of Kopili project.
General K.V. Krishna Road, Governor of Nagaland, Tripura and Manipur, urged for “special consideration” for the border States like Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura for allocating funds from the NEC in view of their comparative backwardness and isolation. General Road suggested working out of a system to ensure cost effectiveness so that the best use is made of limited fund available.
Among others to address the meeting were the Chief Minister of Manipur, Mr Rishang Keishing, the Lt. Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Mr T.V. Rajeswar, the Chief Minister of Nagaland, Mr S.C. Jamir the Chief Minister of Assam, Mr Hiteswar Saikia the Lt. Governor of Mizoram, Mr H S Dubey, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Mr Gagong Apang, Chief Minister of Tripura, Mr Nripen Chakraborty and Chief Minister of Mizoram, Mr Lal Thanhawla.