STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: In tell-tale signs of poor execution of central schemes that reflects poorly on the state, 86% of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region's (DoNER) projects are facing delays in implementation in Assam.
Out of DoNER's total 246 ongoing projects as of September 30, 2026, implementation of 212 projects worth Rs 4,325.71 crore have been delayed. Significantly, 161 of them have been delayed by more than three years.
Further, four of the 212 delayed projects are in "distress" stage.
Out of the 246 ongoing projects, 139 are under the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme Other Than Road (NESIDS-OTRI), nine under the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme - Roads (NESIDS-Roads), four under the Prime Minister's Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE), 50 are schemes of North Eastern Council (NEC), and 44 under Special Development packages (SDP).
Out of the 212 delayed projects, 139 are under NESIDS-OTRI, two under NESIDS-Roads, 40 are schemes of NEC, four under PM-DevINE, and 27 under SDP. Though Central projects, the responsibility of their implementation lays with the state. Hence, Dispur's inability to implement them in time reflects poorly on the line department's overall competence level.
DoNER was constituted, first as a department in 2001 and then as a ministry in 2004, primarily for better coordination between the state governments of north-eastern region and the ministries and departments of Government of India.
It is the only ministry with a territorial jurisdiction and functions to coordinate the developmental efforts in the north-eastern region. The DoNER Ministry is implementing various schemes for development of the region, which include NESIDS-Roads, NESIDS-OTRI, schemes of NEC, PM-DevINE and SDP among others.
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