SHILLONG, JAN 2: DoNER Minister and North Eastern Council-NEC- chairman Jitendra Singh on Friday approved the draft annual plan outlay of over Rs 1000 crore for 2015-16 to enable the NEC to meet its financial obligation during its 63rd plenary meeting attended by the eight states’ governors and chief ministers or its representatives.
Friday’s plenary meet at the NEC secretariat in Shillong was held after a gap of 10 years and this was possible because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s East policy.
During his address, Singh said the prime minister attached great importance to the development of the north eastern region.”
The NEC has submitted BE plan proposal for the year 2015-16 for Rs 1088.21 crore and the sector-wise allocation proposed is based on the requirement of the sectors for 2015-16 after a two-hour long discussion with respective representatives from each state.
Transport and communication, agriculture, allied sector and power were allocated the maximum proposal accounting to 71.26 per cent of the plan outlay.
Of the Rs 1088.21 crore, Rs 500 crore is meant for transports and communication and accounts for 45.95 per cent of the total outlay. Rs 150.4 crore and Rs 125 crore has been proposed for Agri and allied sectors and power sectors respectively accounting for 13.82 per cent and 11.49 sectors.
During the plenary meeting, Singh also approved a proposal put forward by Assam governor PB Acharya on the need to take the plenary on rotation to all state capitals of the north eastern states.
Singh directed NEC secretary to hold a two-day camp office at the state capital once every two months in consultation with respective state government to enable him to be approached by the concerned officials.
Singh sought the views of all the NE states governments on effort to bring the north east at par with the rest of the country in all spheres of development and progress.
Acknowledging that connectivity has always been an issue for the NE region, Singh announced that NEC has been able to restore Alliance Air flights to Umroi, Lilabari, Silchar and Tezpur Airports providing air connectivity to Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
“This has been made possible through revival of the earlier arrangement by NEC by providing viability gap funding to Alliance Air,” Singh said while informing that MoU has already been signed for a period of two years between NEC and Alliance Air.
Singh further informed that a second aircraft is expected to be inducted by Alliance Air and once this is done, the other unconnected airports in the region can be connected by air in the coming months.
For strengthening of air connectivity in the region, the NEC has been trying to promote a dedicated low-cost airline for the region.
Although this has not materialized so far, Singh however expressed his desire to revive the idea of having such a regional airline for catering to remote areas with fixed wing aircraft for short take off and landing (STOL).
Singh also informed that MoRTH has set up a National Highway Infrastructure Development Corp. Ltd (NHIDCL) for the NE with head office at Guwahati. He said the move is aimed to speed up the development of roads in the NE region adding an amount of Rs 200 crore has been provided by the Ministry of DoNER in the current year’s budget for developing roads under the NE Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS).
Meanwhile, Singh also said that the NEC is now focusing on the need for preparation of regional plans in various sectors in the region adding that NEC will take up more projects of regional character in near future.
Stating that the NEC’s annual plan allocation is static at Rs 770 crores for the last three years, Singh said, “This needs to be enhanced substantially.”- By Our Reporter
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