Rajnath may fix deadline for NEC projects in city meet

SHILLONG: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who will chair the two-day session of the North Eastern Council (NEC) meeting from Monday, may ensure fixing deadline for the completion of pending projects.
An official said on Saturday that one of the major issues to be discussed at the 67th plenary session of NEC is to find out the ways and means to complete the long-pending projects under the council in a specific time frame.
The home minister may insist on time-bound completion of NEC projects, the official added.
The new role of the Union home minister as ex-officio chairman of NEC and DoNER Minister as vice chairman was approved by the Cabinet in June and the purpose is to push for economic development as there are many long-pending infrastructure projects in the North East.
DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh and chief ministers and governors of all the northeastern states will also take part in the meeting.
During the meeting, various presentations on issues related to all-round development of the northeastern region will be made.
Some of the major issues to be discussed are transformation of several districts in the region, strengthening livelihood programmes, water resources management, catchment area treatment through afforestation, doubling farmers’ income by 2022, road connectivity, ‘Poshan Abhiyan to address malnutrition, Ayushman Bharat (national health scheme) and security related matters pertaining to the northeastern states, among others.
The plenary will also discuss continuation of NEC schemes till March 2020 as approved by the Cabinet in March 2018.