Development of North-east region priority for Modi Govt.: Jitendra Singh

North Eastern Council (NEC) chairman and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh on Monday assured all members at the 66th Plenary of North Eastern Council that development of the region is amongst foremost priorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.

Singh asserted that the Union Government is in the process of reinventing NEC as an effective regional body.

Singh also averred that earnest measures should be taken to deploy the 10 percent resources under the non-lapsable pool of resources.

Singh said that in the meeting he highlighted some of the major achievements of the NEC.

"NEC has put maximum emphasis on the Transport and Communication Sector with the construction of 10,500 kms of roads including inter-state and roads of economic importance," Singh said.

"He said that a new scheme named, North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS) has been launched to take up all strategically important but hitherto neglected roads and bridges. Three projects under the scheme (Doimukh-Harmuti; Tura-Mankachar & Wokha-Merapani,-Golaghat) for 85 kms has been already awarded to National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) for implementation at an estimated cost of Rs 213.97 crores. 14 projects have been identified to be taken up under NERSDS during 2017-18," he added.

Highlighting the endeavours of the NEC in connection with improvising the air connectivity in the region Singh said, "to promote air connectivity in the region, NEC has supported Airports Authority of India (AAI) for upgradation of infrastructure in 12 operational airports."

"Construction of Tezu airport in Arunachal Pradesh is supported by NEC and is likely to be operational within the current financial year. He said that NEC is also taking up the runway extension in the Umroi (Shillong) airport to enable bigger aircrafts to land and three (3) numbers of hangars at LGBI Airport in Guwahati has been completed under NEC funding," he added.