Rs 53,706 cr earmarked for Northeast
New Delhi: With an allocation of Rs 53,706 crore in the ongoing fiscal for the North East, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday sought to end the ‘sense of isolation’ of the region proposing a slew of proposals, including enhanced road and rail connectivity and fostering of organic farming.
Under the nodal DoNER ministry a whopping Rs 2332.78 crore in plan and non-plan sectors has been sanctioned, which is an increase of more than Rs 500 crore. The North Eastern Council (NCE), which received Rs 676 crore last year, will now get Rs.725 crore, the budget documents showed.
Underlining the importance attached by the Narendra Modi-led government to the region, the finance minister also mooted launching of a 24×7 television channel for the region apart from setting up a sports university in Manipur.
“North Eastern Region has suffered from under development
and a sense of isolation due to lack of proper connectivity,” Jaitley said while presenting the Budget in Parliament.
But for road sector alone out of Rs.37880 crore the Northeast will receive Rs 3000 crore for its highways both national and state, Jaitley said.
The Union Finance Minister in his maiden budget speech announced a sport University in Manipur, a special 24×7 TV channel exclusively for the Northeast, revision of the oil royalty rates, besides a special focus on organic forming and a number of budgetary allocations has been earmarked for critical sectors of the region.
Jailtly said that from the current budget, the Government has introduced a statement, which will separately showed allocation made for the Northeastern States.
In the financial 2014-2015, an allocation of Rs 53,706 crore has been made for Northeastern Region,” he announced.
The Finance Minister proposed a sum of Rs. 1000 crore for development of rail connectivity in the Northeastern Region over and above the amount provided for in the interim budget.
In order to provide a strong platform to rich cultural and linguistic identity of the Northeast, a new 24×7 channel called “Arun Prabha” will be launched.
With the region known for its sporting excellence, the government is also looking to the region for development of sports.
“I also propose to set up a sports university in Manipur. For this I am providing a sum of Rs 100 crore in the current financial year,” Jaitley said.
This is a part of the government’s overall plan to set up national level sports academies for major games in different parts of the country to mainstream sports for disciplines such as shooting, archery, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting and various track and field events. (With inputs from PTI)