Excelsior Correspondent
New Delhi, June 27: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh met the newly elected MPs from Lok Sabha representing North Eastern States and the members of Rajya Sabha, here today. The purpose of the meeting was to brief the MPs about the ongoing schemes and future plans of the Government in the region.
Secretary (DoNER) Dr Inder Jit Singh, Secretary (North Eastern Council) Ram Muivah and other senior officers of the Ministry were present during the meeting.
Welcoming the MPs, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Government will act for improving the lives of North Eastern people in close coordination with the elected representatives from the states of the region. He said that DoNER is the only region-based ministry in the Government. In the past five years, the Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given due priority to the development of this region, he added. He said that the procedures laid down for DPRs have been simplified so as to expedite the execution of projects in the region and to curb the unnecessary delay. The Minister added that the Chief Ministers and Resident Commissioners of different states based in Delhi have been requested to coordinate with DoNER Ministry and follow up with the officials about the development projects of various states. He further said that then issues related to enhancement of budgetary allocation for development of North Eastern states are being discussed with the Finance Ministry.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that in departure from the earlier practice of 90:10 funding of Northeast projects under NLCPR flagship scheme of the Ministry, implying 90% funds from Centre and 10% from the respective State, the Union Cabinet has agreed that under the new scheme, North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS), the entire 100% of the funding is borne by the Centre, which results in a huge relief to the exchequer of the State Government and also puts an end to the frequent requests received from the State Governments about lack of funds for them to contribute their share. Speaking about another historic decision by the Cabinet, the Minister mentioned about the Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 to exempt bamboo grown in non-forest areas from the definition “Tree”, thereby dispensing with the requirement of obtaining a permit for felling of bamboo for economic use. He informed the members that, in July, 2018, the NEC was restructured through the nomination of the Home Minister as Chairman, NEC and the MoS (I/C) DoNER as the Vice-Chairman, NEC.
Dr Singh said that that Union Minister Amit Shah will chair the plenary session of NEC on August 3 and 4 in Guwahati.
During the interaction, the MPs discussed development related issues pertaining to their areas. They expressed pleasure at the fact that a Chief Nodal officer and a nodal officer has been nominated by the DoNER Ministry for their States and they expressed their wish to be briefed about the status of development projects of their areas on a regular basis.
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