Mukul Sangma unhappy with inadequate outlay

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma today criticized as 'inadequate' the projected Rs 13,027 crore outlay of the North Eastern Council for the 12th Five Year and sought for a faster implementation of projects to avoid cost escalation.
"The projected outlay of the NEC for the 12th Five Year was Rs 13,027 crore and the Planning Commission approved outlay was Rs 6108 crore only. This was inadequate," Mukul said while addressing the 63rd plenary of the Council here.
The annual allocation of the NEC needs to be suitably enhanced, he said, adding that the actual allocation of the NEC since 2012 has been static at Rs 770 crore reflecting a decline in real terms.

Stating that the releases from the Council has been unusually slow this year, the Chief Minister said there are a large bank of sanctions which need to be acted upon quickly to avoid cost escalations.
Seeking timely releases of funds, he said, "As states, our absorption capacity has gone up considerably and we are in a position to complete projects much faster.
Proposing that the non-lapsable pool be kept in a revolving fund to be operated by the DoNER, he said funds could be made available to states based on their project proposals, annual demand and utilization capacities and that the fund allocation be not constrained by yearly budgetary ceilings.

While addressing the NEC plenary, Arunachal Pradesh Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma stressed on trans-Brahmaputra connectivity and need based locating and shifting of certain administrative headquarters of the Centre north of River Brahmaputra.

He also highlighted the constraints and bottlenecks of his state in its path towards development and progress.
Sharma said lack of connectivity is the biggest hurdle to the development in the region and it is holding up unlocking of the vast economic potential of the region.
He said that the immediate requirement of the state was construction and up-gradation of roads involving 5,000 kms which included the Trans-Arunachal Highway, district connectivity roads, Indo-China Border roads and some other link-roads, according to a Raj Bhawan statement at Itanagar.