Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 1: In his capacity as Chairman of the North Eastern Council (NEC), 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 the appointment of two eminent persons as the new members of the Council with immediate effect for a period of three years. They will function as full time non-official members from the NEC headquarters at Shillong.
Of the two names announced by Dr Jitendra Singh, one is that of Chandra Kanta Das, a senior retired IAS officer (’75 batch), who superannuated as Chairman, Assam Electricity Board in December 2008 following which he was Adviser to the Chief Minister, Assam till 2011 and was thereafter actively engaged in public life as a civil society activist. The second name is that of retired Professor of History, Manipur University, Prof Gangmumei Kamei, a distinguished academician, author and public activist, widely hailed for his excellence as an educationist and researcher in the subjects related to Northeast.
The appointment orders were issued following a notification from the President of India based on a proposal put forward by Chairman, NEC Dr Jitendra Singh and duly approved by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The two members appointed today namely Chandra Kanta Das and Gangmumei Kamei will draw the salary, dearness allowance and perquisites as applicable to a Union Secretary in the Government of India. Das and Gangmumei will fill in the vacancies that arose following the acceptance of the resignations of the earlier NEC members Ashoke K.Dutta and M.P.Bezbaruah respectively.
With today’s appointments, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the NEC will present a fresh look and hoped that it will live up to the expectations of fast-track development agenda for Northeast under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who accords a very high priority to the development of Northeast.
Dr Jitendra Singh also disclosed that shortly, a senior IAS officer from Government of India will be posted as the new Secretary of the NEC, since the post fell vacant following the taking over of the earlier Secretary Ameising Luikham as Union Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises.