Itanagar:Arunachal Pradesh Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma on Friday said the North Eastern Council (NEC) has to be the ‘think tank’ and voice for the region.
Addressing the 63rd Plenary of the council at Shillong, the Governor said it should be a strategic planning institute of financial management, monitoring authority and guide the policy makers.
He emphasised the council should be a facilitator in preparing project reports and it has to take lead in suggesting pioneering ideas and proposals. With its parent body, the DoNER which has Central Ministries’ 10 per cent of their Annual Plan Budgets earmarked for the North Eastern Region to address the development deficit of the NE region, the issue of fund paucity for the region must be resolved.
The governor highligh-ted that the North East region requires a systematic and balanced pace of development in each of its state. He stressed for trans Brahmaputra connec-tivity and need based locating and shifting of certain administrative headquarters of the Central government north of River Brahmaputra.
He urged the members to prepare themselves for the bigger picture and be contributors and main stakeholders of the Prime Minister’s ‘Act East’ and ‘Made India’ crusades.
He said in these crusades, the North East has to be an economic powerhouse influencing South East Asia in general and countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar and not just a transit route.
Highlighting problems faced by the region as-well-as Aruanchal, he said lack of connectivity is the biggest hurdle to the development in the region and it is holding up unlocking of the vast economic potential of the region. The governor said the immediate requirement of the state is construction and up-gradation of roads in Arunachal Pradesh involving 5,000 kms. It includes the Trans-Arunachal Highway, district connectivity roads, Indo-China border roads and some other link-roads.
These are to be constructed by the BRO, state PWD and MORTH. As of now, out of 1575 km, only 200 kms of Trans Arunachal Highway is complete.
Expressing his concern on the pace of road construction, the Governor emphasised on drastically cutting down of time frame and achieved the target by 2025. (UNI)