Jitendra Singh urges states to ‘fully spend’ funds
SHILLONG: All the Northeastern states were on the same page on Thursday in demanding an enhancement of the budgetary allocation for the North Eastern Council (NEC) from the Ministry of DoNER.
The 65th Plenary Session of the NEC, which began here on Thursday, saw a consistent request from almost all Northeastern states to enhance the allocation of the Council.
Host state Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma pointed out that the allocation of around Rs 700 crore for the NEC was by no means enough.
However, Union DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh, who was here to attend the Coucil’s Plenary Session, said that earlier an amount of around Rs 700 was allocated for the NEC but later it was increased to around Rs 900 crore.
Nagaland Chief Minister T. R. Zeliang, meanwhile, asked the DoNER Minister to bring along officers from the Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog to the NEC meetings so as to have a better understanding of the ground situation in the North East.
The Union DoNER Minister, however, tried to put all fund-related apprehensions to rest by pointing out that the Union Government, through its various ministries, has allocated Rs 33000 crore for the North East and all the ministries are spending 10 per cent of their allocation on the region.
The Union Minister also advised the Northeastern states to fully spend their allocations and added that many a time, the states are not able to utilize the full allocation.
The 65th Plenary Session of the NEC meanwhile discussed a number of issues and agenda for the overall development of the region.
On the opening day of the two-day session, various topics, including developmental projects and action taken report on the 64th Plenary held in New Delhi last year, besides the Draft Annual Plan of NEC for 2016-17, were discussed by the members.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma expressed his happiness that the extension of runway for Umroi Airport was part of the agenda for discussion as the State had spent substantial amount on land acquisition for the project.
He said that the villagers had willingly shifted from the area so that the runway could be expanded and the airport could be made fully operational.
Jitendra Singh, meanwhile, remarked that considering the fact that Shillong was a sought after destination, the NEC felt that the State should have a full fledged airport and had therefore taken up the extension of runway at Umroi Airport in its agenda for development.
North East as Organic Capital of the country, North Eastern Road Sector Development Scheme – upgradation and maintenance of orphan roads, inter-state roads etc, assistance for procurement of Agri- Horti produce, NE Tourism Development Council, Partial assistance to states/NGOs for setting up of an iconic skill centre infrastructure for North East youths, were among the other matters taken up for discussion on the first day.
Under North Eastern Road Sector Development Scheme, it was decided that one inter-state road in every state in the region would be taken up for development, even as some of the members called for equitable distribution of NEC fund for all the Northeastern states.
Earlier during the day-long session, various departments and agencies gave presentations of their developmental projects related to livelihood, entrepreneurship, infrastructure and connectivity in the Northeast.
A brief video presentation on the achievements of NEC, including its action plan for 2016-17, was also made by the NEC Secretary Ram Muivah on the occasion.
The 65th plenary session was attended by Chief Minister and Governor of Assam, the Governors of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura Governor, the Chief Minister of Manipur beside a host of other dignitaries.