Northeast only region in India to have Regional Road Corporation : Jitendra Singh

The northeast is the only region in India for which the Centre has formulated a Regional Road Corporation to boost development, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said.

The minister today convened a meeting of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

The main focus of the meeting revolved around issues related to the North Eastern Handicrafts and Handloom Development Corporation (NEHHDC) and livelihood schemes being implemented by the ministry.

One of the purposes of holding such consultative meetings on the northeast at different locations is to enable members of the committee to tell the rest of India about the path-breaking initiatives undertaken by the Centre in the northeastern region, Singh said.

The Modi government has taken several initiatives for the development of the northeast in just four years, he said.

"Northeast is the only region in the country for which the Centre has formulated the first-ever Regional Road Corporation in the form of North-East Road Development Scheme" to boost development, Singh said.

Such meetings enable members of the committee to acquaint themselves with the developmental activities of the host state, in this case Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said.

The pace of developmental activity in the northeastern region today could serve as a cue and motivation for the other states, Singh said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, soon after taking office had declared that he wanted to bring peripheral states on par with the developed states, he said, adding that this declaration stands adequately vindicated.

"The most important motivating factor for this is the prime minister's personal outreach who has, in just four years, visited the eight northeast states as many as 30 times, just as he has visited Jammu and Kashmir about a dozen times in the same period," Singh said.

The eight states of the northeast, following a decision of the Union Cabinet, will, in the future, receive 100 per cent funding for central schemes and developmental projects instead of the 90:10 funding pattern which was available earlier, he said.