Insurgency down in NE, law and order improved significantly: Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said the law and order situation in the Northeast improved significantly after the insurgency in the region was brought under control by the Modi government.

Singh said this after inaugurating 'The Conclave 2022', a two-day interactive session jointly organised by the 'Asomiya Pratidin', a popular Assamese daily, and 'Pratidin Time', an Assamese channel based in Guwahati.

During our reign, the insurgency has been brought under control and the law and order situation in the region has improved significantly, he said.

The defence minister, however, admitted that even though the situation has not improved 100 per cent but it was significant progress in that direction.

He said the Northeast was earlier isolated in terms of development and it was not in the best interest of the country.

I can assure you that our government is working to do everything possible to bring progress to the Northeast, he said.

Singh also said that it was the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee that took the initiative for the development of the Northeast and created a separate ministry DoNER for the region.

In his address, Union Minister of Ports, Waterways and Shipping Sarbananda Sonowal hailed the NDA government's initiative of PM Gati Shakti and National Logistics Policy, saying these will fasten the pace of development in the Northeast.

Among several important projects, Sonowal said a slipway will be built at Pandu in Guwahati.

He said this would bring down the time taken for repair of ships as earlier ships from the Northeast had to be taken to Kolkata for repairs and used to take around six months for the entire process.

Sonowal highlighted river cruise and coastal cruise, and announced the construction of a floating jetty at Maguri Beel in a bid to boost water tourism. The former Assam chief minister also spoke about the construction of a river port near Bogibeel bridge in Dibrugarh.

Earlier, the defence minister was felicitated by Chairman of Pratidin Media group Jayanta Baruah.

The Pratidin Media Group publishes the Assamese daily Asomiya Pratidin and runs the Pratidin Time news channel.The group started digital editions of Asomiya Pratidin and Pratidin Time in 2015.