Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today announced Rs. 207 crore for protection and development of the world famous and accredited world heritage island “Majuli” located along river Brahmaputra in the State of Assam. This is possibly the first serious effort by the Ministry of Northeast for the upliftment of the world famous scenic island which was recently also declared a separate district after the new State Government led by BJP took over in Guwahati. The amount earmarked by the Ministry of DoNER will be spent primarily for safeguarding the land loss due to erosion and to protect the 80 km length of the bank line on the right bank of river Brahmaputra along worrld famous Majuli island.
Presiding over a meeting of the Ministry of DoNER here today with video conference participation by the officials of North Eastern Council (NEC) from its headquarters at Shillong, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is a matter of pride that the Ministry of DoNER has succeeded in breaking the jinx of allocated funds remaining unspent year after year, for the last several decades. Citing figures, he said, out of Rs.2400 Cr allocation for NLCPR, Rs.1743 Cr have already been spent in the first nine months in the current financial year, which is a quantum jump compared to what it was in the preceding financial years. Similarly, he said, the North Eastern Council (NEC) has already spent Rs. 702 Cr till now since April 1, 2016 in the current financial year, whereas in the last financial year of 2015-16, the total amount spent in the whole year was Rs. 760 Cr.
Dr Jitendra Singh congratulated the officers in the Ministry of DoNER for their cooperation in implementing several innovative ideas and said, the Ministry deserves to pat itself for becoming the first Ministry in Government of India to have switched over completely to e-file and e-correspondence in its office work.
Several out-of-the-box decisions taken over the last one year, Dr Jitendra Singh said, had contributed to the expediting of the projects and increased spending of funds. This, he said, is borne out by the fact that during the current financial year 2016-17, so far 99 projects have already been completed out of which, 76 fall under NLCPR scheme and 23 under North-Eastern Council. These include projects related to roads, water supplies, education, etc., he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the modified procedure of the DPRs to be scrutinized by State-level Empowered Committee instead of being conventionally routed through the DoNER Ministry and Utilization Certificates being submitted through Space technology, has not only brought in more transparency, but also faster results. The final details of “Venture Fund” to be provided by the DoNER Ministry to new startups in Northeast will also be worked out soon and this added incentive has already begun to attract the youngsters, he added.
Prominent among those present in the meeting included Secretary DoNER Naveen Verma, Secretary NEC Ram Muivah, Joint Secretaries S.N. Pradhan, J.K. Sinha ,Managing Director NEHHDC Dhiraj Thakuria and others.
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