SHILLONG: Union DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the North Eastern Council (NEC), has called for promotion of Unarmed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology for Geographic Information System.
He said that remote sensing application was identified as thrust area and support for necessary infrastructure along with training programme has been extended through NESAC for all state remote sensing application centres of the Northeastern states.
“One Unarmed Aerial Vehicle each has been provided to all Northeastern states and necessary training for flying of Unarmed Aerial Vehicle has been imparted to the state government officials,” he said.
As far as Umroi airport is concerned, he said that Rs 178.18 crore has been sanctioned and Rs 10 crore has been released for extension of the runway at the airport.
In the power sector, the DoNER minister said during 2017-18, twelve power projects in the region including four in Meghalaya were completed and commissioned.
Earlier in his speech, he gave details of North Eastern Council history and changes from time to time. He said that the ministry has brought DoNER at the doorsteps of the Northeast region.
Singh said that out of 116 aspirational districts of the country, 14 districts are in the Northeastern region. These districts are assessed on the basis of 48 indicators of the growth.
Regarding infrastructural growth in the region, Singh said that the government is addressing the concern of ‘orphan roads’, common to two bordering states but not being attended by either state in the region.
Enumerating the activities of the DoNER Ministry, Singh said that the Ministry is organising ‘North East Calling’ and ‘Destination North East’ activities in different parts of the country for faster integration.
The minister also mentioned about the hostel facilities for the students of the North East in New Delhi, where hostels are constructed in Dwarka and Rohini.
He said that hostel for the students in Bengaluru are also being constructed “as it is the need of the time”.
Governors of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh and six chief ministers from the Northeastern states of Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland addressed the plenary session.
Senior officials of the eight Northeastern states, top officials of NEC and DoNER ministry were also present at the plenary.
