Union ministers to oversee plans for northeast region

One union minister will be in each of the northeastern states every fortnight to personally oversee the plans and developmental aspects of the region, an official release said here on Wednesday quoting union DoNER minister Jitendra Singh.

A delegation of MPs representing various northeastern states and six political parties led by former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday and given him a memorandum.

Union Minister for Development of Northeast Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh was present during the meeting and explained to the MPs the NDA government's vision to develop the northeastern region, comprising eight states.

"Following the Prime Minister's directions, government has prepared a roster wherein eight union ministers would be travelling to different northeastern states every fortnight which, in other words, means that there would be one central minister in each of the northeast states in every fortnight," the official release said quoting Singh in the meeting.

The release said the prime minister, who is taking a personal interest in the development of the northeastern region, gave a patient hearing to the delegation and enquired about the observations made by the MPs on a wide range of issues.

The DoNER minister said that the northeast is a part of Prime Minister Modi's India Vision and has a high priority for the present government. He referred to the PM's recent visits to the northeast during which he inaugurated the first ever rail link to Meghalaya and also announced the launch of giant hydro-electric projects.

Recognising the aspirations of the youth of the northeast, Modi has also announced a Sports University for Manipur and six agricultural colleges for various states of the region, he added.

"The prime minister is keen to bring northeast at par with the rest of India," said the release quoting Singh.

The prime minister has also emphasised on specialised areas like organic farming.

Singh also referred to the recently introduced new innovative programme called "DoNER at Doorstep" wherein a Secretariat Camp of the ministry would be held every month by rotation in each of the eight different states of the region.

The memorandum, submitted to the prime minister, described at length the various potential projects which could be taken up in each of the eight states in the near future.

The memorandum broadly refers to a "10-Point Action Agenda" envisaging strengthening of institutional frameworks, maintaining peace to achieve prosperity, enabling growth through road, rail and aviation connectivity, strengthening power generation and transmission, managing natural resources, empowering northeast youth, creating jobs through industry entrepreneurship and tourism, harnessing the geological and cultural richness, realising the "Act East" vision and ensuring better healthcare.

Prominent among the MPs who were part of the delegation were minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju (BJP--Arunachal Pradesh), Neiphiu Rio (Naga People's Front-Nagaland), Prem Das Rai (Sikkim Democratic Front-Sikkim), Hishey Lachungpa (Sikkim Democratic Front-Sikkim), Kamakhya Prasad Tasa (BJP-Assam), Shankar Prasad Dutta (CPI-M-Tripura) and C. L. Ruala (Congress-Mizoram) besides P. A. Sangma (National People's Party-Meghalaya).