SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma has called for giving more autonomy and power to the North Eastern Council (NEC) which is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North Eastern Region
Talking to media persons after the 67th NEC plenary meeting here on Tuesday, Sangma said that it was important that the funding for the council was increased given the present insufficient budgetary allocation for the NEC.
Stating that major issues were discussed during the two-day meeting, he added that a lot of concerns and communication gaps on different issues were sorted out during the meeting
When asked if the Union Government’s decision on new schemes for the North East bypassed the NEC’s plenary, he said that there was nothing like bypassing and state cabinet had its own powers to take decision on the matter
“ However, if there are differences, we will get it resolved,” he said
He also said that since the NCLPR had been scrapped and the Government had come out with North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme” (NESIDS), the states should be given some flexibility since the requirement of every state was different, adding NESIDS) should not be so stringent in its guidelines.
When asked if the Union Cabinet has underlined the autonomy of NEC by stopping several schemes, he said that some schemes were not matching the new guidelines and these schemes were required to be passed in the plenary of the NEC under the new guidelines