Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 1: Hailing the allocation of Rs.2362.74 crore for development of Northeastern region in the budget presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances,Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh said here today, this will not only give boost to the physical growth of the region, but will also help Northeastern part of the country to get more closely assimilated in the mainstream India.
Setting aside criticism in certain quarters that enough allocations had not been made for Northeast in the 2015-16 budget, Dr. Jitendra Singh urged upon the financial analysts and social scientists to study budget provisions in detail so that they could realize that there is an extraordinary emphasis in Jaitley’s budget on several Northeastern issues including natural resources, financial inclusion, health, hygiene, girl education and youth employment.
In a bid to benefit Northeast with the mainstream initiatives, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, there is a special focus on welfare of labour, agricultural productivity, digital connectivity, skill development in youth, increase in farm income and improvement of work culture in governance.
He said, Arun Jaitley has always been particularly sensitive about sensibilities of the Northeast and one of the examples of this is that he had earlier announced a 24X7 television channel named “Arun Prabha” for the region at a cost of Rs.1,825.45 crore.
Considering that lack of connectivity is a major concern of the region, Dr. Jitendra Singh referred to Rs.1000 crore, allocated for rail connectivity and Rs.2000 crore, allocated for road connectivity. In addition, the Government has also focused on constructing all-weather roads along the borders with nearly 100% increase in allocation for construction of roads along Sino-India and Indo-Pak borders, he said.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the 4056 kms. of Sino-India border stretching from ‘Karakoram point’ of Ladakh region in Jammu & Kashmir to ‘Fish Tail’ in Arunachal Pradesh will get Rs.300 crore. in the 2015-16 budget which is double the allocation during the last fiscal when it stood at Rs.156.47 crore. This will be particularly a great service to the troops as well as Army and paramilitary jawans on duty in these difficult terrains, he added.
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