PM asks cabinet members to pay attention to region
New Delhi: Just days after the Union DoNER Ministry decided to make the union ministers visit the North East on rotation basis, the Union Council of Ministers has take a decision to make it a fortnightly affair to bring the remote and backward region closer to the national mainstream through development.At least one Union Minister will now have to visit one of the states in the region every fortnight. This was decided in a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on Monday.
In the meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized that the ministers should put the seven northeastern states as well as the Himalayan state of Sikkim on their tour map and spare reasonable time for the region.Union Chemicals Minister Ananth Kumar has been assigned the role of initial coordination with the ministers to ensure their presence in the region on a regular basis. He also met some of the ministers over the issue three-four days back to chalk out the schedule.
All Union ministers – Cabinet, Ministers of State with Independent Charge and Ministers of State – have been asked to submit their travel plans to the Northeast region in the coming days. Sources in the government say that Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir are key focus areas for the Prime Minister and he is particular that the plans of the government to reach out to people in these regions are carried out with precision and proper planning.During his four-day trip to the NE states in November-December last year, the Prime Minister had said that while the rest of India which had SEZs (Special Economic Zones), the Northeast region was full of NEZs – Natural Economic Zones.