Centre should continue assistance to NE states: Mukul Sangma

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma today said the Centre should continue with its assistance and special funds to north-eastern states to sustain growth momentum in the region.
"The budget that has been articulated, incorporated and aggressively supported by the (erstwhile) UPA government should continue. They are good enough and I have always been insisting that what the present regime has withdrawn must be restored in the best interest of the people of this region," Sangma said reacting to a query on his expectation from the Union Budget.
The Centre, he said, has already made it clear that there will be no other special dispensation in additional and special funds, which otherwise were available as part of the policies of the central government in the successive years.

"We are trying to make the leadership at the Centre understand this reality and I hope they do. Otherwise, the momentum of growth that we have been able to generate will have a setback and that does not augur well for the nation," the Chief Minister said.
He said the assistance which was extended to northeastern states in the past were designed by successive governments at the Centre to generate growth momentum in the region enabling them to catch up with the rest of the country.
In its last budget session, the state government had imposed a 20 per cent cut on the budget in view of Centre's restriction on special funds and assistance.

Sangma said, "We are yet to actually get the compliance (from the Centre) to our persistent proposals and requests. But we will continue (sending requests and proposals).