PM Modi chairs meeting with CMs from North-Eastern states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a meeting with the Chief Ministers of the North Eastern states, which was attended among others by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Vice Chairman NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya, Chief Ministers of Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura and Finance Minister of Mizoram.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister emphasized and reiterated the resolve of the Union Government to ensure rapid and sustainable development of the region.

The Chief Ministers were briefed on infrastructure initiatives taken up by the Union Government in the North-Eastern region through a NITI Aayog presentation.

There has been a significant ramp-up in infrastructure investments by the Government of India in the North East since Prime Minister Modi assumed office.

Under SARDPNE (Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the North-East), Rs 35,000 Crore is proposed to be invested to develop the Trans-Arunachal Highway and for connecting all district headquarters by a 2 lane highway (about 6400 Km).

New rail network is being created in addition to strengthening the existing network at a cost of Rs 57,000 crore.

Similarly, investments are being taken up by the Telecom, Power, Civil Aviation and Shipping ministries in order to improve the connectivity - air, road, rail and internet - of the region, internally as well as externally under the Act East policy of the Union Government.

It was agreed that the Empowered Committees (led by the State Chief Secretaries) constituted pursuant to the decision of the NITI Governing Council need to be even more proactive in monitoring the implementation of these infrastructure projects and remove bottlenecks in order that time and cost overruns can be avoided.