SHILLONG: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has expressed the view that coal mining needs to be regulated in Meghalaya and that the State Government should ensure that extraction of coal is done in a scientific and organized manner as coal is one of the revenue-generating resources of the State.
The Committee reiterated the Union government’s commitment of developing the North eastern region of the country during its meeting with senior officials of the State Government and the North Eastern Council held at the State Convention Centre here on Tuesday.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee was led by its Chairman P. Bhattacharya while the State Government was represented by Chief Secretary P.B.O. Warjri and the NEC by its Secretary, Ameising Luikham.
In a thorough discussion, the State Government apprised the Committee on the problems that Meghalaya faced due to the suspension of Central Government’s subsidies on all development projects.
The Chief Secretary said that all the North Eastern States, with the exception of Assam, does not have huge resources to sustain themselves so suspension of subsidy has extensively affected the States of the North East. He urged upon the Committee to appraise the Centre of this problem and find ways to address it.
The Chief Secretary also pointed out that the Ministry of DoNER does not have technical support for developmental schemes which he felt is the reason for the delay in allocation of funds. So he suggested that the Committee look into this matter so that funds can be expedited in a timely manner.
Warjri also said that the NEC was doing a very good job and therefore with sufficient manpower and authority, the Council could be made to play a more effective role in the development of the region.
The NEC Secretary said the Council has been involved in many big projects such as setting up of state-of-the-art infrastructures in North Eastern Police Academy, power projects, medical institutions and others. Stating that the role of the NEC was vast, he urged upon the Committee to consider enhancing fund allocation and also the strength of human resources. He also felt that by working in convergence with DoNER and the State Governments, the North East can be at par with the rest of India.
The Committee gave an assurance that it will consider these issues and apprise the Central Government of the problems being faced by the states of the North East in general and Meghalaya in particular.
The Committee also felt that suspension of subsidy should be reconsidered and resolve at the earliest.
On the issue of the role of the Ministry of DoNER, the Committee felt that the role of the Ministry needs to be re-evaluated. Moreover, the Committee felt the need to strengthen manpower and technical know-how in the Ministry so that the developmental front of the North East is not hampered.
The Committee called upon the officials of DoNER, NEC and the State Government to work in synergy so that the bottlenecks could be resolved.
The Committee called upon the officials of DoNER, NEC and State Government to work in synergy so that these bottleneck issues could be resolved.
Other members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee include S. Banerjee, Ankit Bhatia, Chandrakant Khaire, Dilip Patel, Bheem Rao Patil, D.K. Mishra, Nagarajan P., Ramen Deka, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Selvakumara and Chinayan S., all Members of Parliament.
