NEW DELHI: Two projects were either sanctioned, started, completed or operationalised for the Northeastern region every day in the first 100 days of the Modi government’s second term, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday.
Singh, the Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), said keeping in tune with a targeted delivery mechanism, an action plan has been formulated by the Ministry of DoNER for the all-round development of the region.
“The focus of the 100 days plan of action of the government was to sanction or start or complete or operationalise 200 projects worth about Rs 3,000 crore, which means on an average two projects for Rs 30 crore per day,” he said here. Another important plan is the setting up of a Bamboo Industrial Park at Manderdisa in Dima Hasao district of Assam, in an area of 75 hectares at a cost of Rs 50 crore.
In fulfilment of its agenda in the initial 100 days, 49 projects worth Rs 1,232 crore have been implemented by the ministry in the North East since June 2019. These include sanction of eight new projects for Rs 586.3 crore under North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS) and North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS).
The journey that began in 2014 continues, even as in 2019, the Modi government once again took charge of the aspirations of the common man, particularly common youth of India, Singh said. The development is envisaged to be “all inclusive”, that is, inclusive of all regions, as well as all spheres and all dimensions, he said.
The minister said the Modi government has always accorded top priority to the ‘hitherto neglected’ Northeastern region. This is borne out by the fact that during first five years of his term as prime minister, Narendra Modi undertook over 30 visits to the North East and this personal outreach of the PM effectively put the development activity on fast track, he said.
In the first term of the Modi government, the primary focus was not only to bring the North East closer to the rest of India, but actually to bring the “Rest of India” closer to the North East, the minister said.
The same priorities continue in the Modi 2.0 term, with a time-bound and streamlined approach, he said. (PTI)
