SHILLONG, Jan 2:
Lamenting over poor utilisation of central funds to develop north-eastern states, Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Minister Jitendra Singh said today asked Chief Ministers of the eight north-eastern states to fully utilise funds allocated by the Union Government.
“The region must do more in utilizing funds, as Rs 600 crore or 73 per cent of the budget allocation for the North Eastern Council remains utilized during the current fiscal,” Mr Singh told reporters after chairing the council’s plenary meet here in Meghalaya.
Today’s plenary meeting at Shillong, the NEC’s headquarter was held for the first time after a gap of 10 years. Governors and chief ministers of the eight states north-eastern states attended the meeting barring Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar.
Mr Singh said so far just 27 per cent of the total budgetary allocation for the NEC has been utilised and as such Rs. 600 crore remains unutilized.
The Minister said that he would try to convince concerns ministries at the centre so that this budgetary provision does not return and the member states must try utilizing the fund within the stipulated timeframe.
“We will try to bring in changes so that the NEC do not get bad name and its inability to utilize fund do not become an annual feature,” the minister said.
Describing Northeast as “sensitive, inaccessible with peculiar problems,” Mr Singh said that the priority of the Central Government was to take care of the sensitivity, inaccessibility and peculiar problems confronting each of the eight north-eastern states.
“We have to try our best possible to bring the Northeast region closer to mainland India both in terms of development and cultural,” he said. (AGENCIES)
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