New Delhi: A meeting of the Chief Ministers of all the eight North Eastern states will be called soon to chart-out a concrete time-bound roadmap to ensure equitable development and holistic economic upliftment of the region.
This was announced by the new Minister for Development of North-East Region (DONER), Dr. Jitendra Singh who took charge on Monday after reallocation of portfolios on Sunday. The Minister also wrote letters to all the Governors and Chief Ministers spelling out his vision for the growth and development of the Northeastern region.
Talking to media after assuming the new charge, Dr Singh said that development and concern for North East is high on the agenda of the present government and he was conscious of the faith and responsibility that the Prime Minister had reposed in him by entrusting this charge to him.
The eight States of the North East have their own peculiarities and adversities, said Dr Singh adding that that there was also a perception among the people of the region that they were not getting the deserved attention. He said he will work to ensure that the pace of progress and development in the North East are the same as that in the rest of the country.
PTI adds
The chief ministers whom Singh addressed individual letters are Nabam Tuki of Arunachal Pradesh, Tarun Gogoi of Assam, Okram Ibobi Singh of Manipur, Mukul Sangma of Meghalaya, Lal Thanhawla of Mizoram, T R Zeliang of Nagaland, Pawan Chamling of Sikkim and Manik Sarkar of Tripura.
He also wrote similar letters to the governors Lt. Gen (retd.) Nirbhay Sharma (Arunachal Pradesh), Janaki Ballabh Patnaik (Assam), Krishan Kant Paul (Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram), Padmnabha Acharya (Nagaland and Tripura) and Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil (Sikkim).
Earlier Singh was greeted by senior officers of the ministry led by Secretary DoNER R Vijaykumar on his arrival at the Vigyan Bhawan Annexe office of the ministry. A professional Doctor, Singh was also a newspaper communist and member of the BJP National Executive Body.
