Northeastern states not utilising DoNER funds

New Delhi: All the Northeastern states which often complain about inadequate release of funds have been blamed by the Centre for not utilizing the same at the pace and scale the Union Government expected even while few months are left for this financial year.
Minister for DoNER, Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday  expressed concern about the funds not getting utilized by the NE states even while the Centre wanted the same. The Government places Northeast very high on the priority and the Prime Minister himself takes keen interest in following the developmental activities in the region. But delayed response on the part of some of the states deprives the people from getting optimum benefits envisaged for them. Singh was presiding over a meeting of senior officers of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and North Eastern Council (NEC).
The meeting was to review the status of Central Budget expenditure so far in Northeast during the current financial year.
He also asked the northeastern states to expedite fund utilization, so that the financial support made available to them from the Centre can be availed to the maximum extent for development of the region. He added that he will personally write to all the eight Chief Ministers of the region, to impress upon them to expedite the budget utilization.
The DoNER minister recalled when the Government took over in 2014; there were complaints of gross under-utilisation of Central funds allocated to the Northeastern States.
However, he said, in the last four years, the Ministry of DoNER had modified a number of procedures, as a result of which, both the funding as well as the accountability has increased manifold.
The Union Minister emphasised that he wished the State Governments to make 100% utilization of the funds made available to them, so that in the next budget, more allocations can be planned. He called upon the State Governments to particularly focus on prompt submission of Utilization Certificates (UCs) and avoid delays on account of land acquisition, etc.
At the meeting, it was also decided that in the next coming months, the Ministry and North Eastern Council will embark on hi-tech digitisation programmes for all eight States. In addition, commemorative programmes to observe the 150th birth centenary of Mahatma Gandhi will also be held at North East. Secretary DoNER Naveen Verma, Secretary NEC, Ram Muivah and other senior officers were present at the meeting.