Raju to take personal charge of NE airport development

PMO issues letter, says every NE state to have a visit of union minister every 15 days

In line with the NDA government’s plan to increase the pace of infrastructure development in the north-eastern states, civil aviation minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju has decided to visit Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on a two-day tour starting January 29.

The focus will be to speed up airport development and improve air connectivity in a region considered extremely sensitive both because of its international borders with China, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and also towards internal security issues.

The move follows directions issued to several ministers by Jitendra Singh, who holds multiple ministerial positions including Minister of State (MoS), Prime Minister’s Office, and MoS (Independent Charge) at the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

In a letter issued earlier this month and seen by Business Standard, Singh has said that every North-East (NE) State will have a visit of a Union Minister in 15 days. These visits may not be confined to State capitals, but spread over “sub-regions” of the State, districts and sub-divisions where development projects are under implementation.

“In consonance with the Union Government’s commitment to accelerate the pace of development in the NE Region and also to maximize the efficacy of projects/schemes being implement, it has been decided to request the Union Ministers to undertake visits to NE States,” the letter said.

It added, “Visits may be utilised for reviewing the progress of ongoing projects and schemes, holding press conferences for giving wider publicity of achievements and programmes of the Union government in general and in all the eight States of the NE region. Stay in the region should be planned in such a way that sufficient time is available for onsite project inspections, discussions with officials and getting feedback of local population.”

Besides Raju and Singh, other ministers asked to visit NE region on a regular basis are Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Mines and Steel, Law and Justice Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, Ram Kripal Yadav, Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Minister of State for Agriculture.