Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The implementation of the centrally-funded projects under the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) is yet to pick up pace in the north-eastern states. Strangely enough, 25 of the 37 projects sanctioned under NESIDS in the financial year 2018-19 in the region have not been completed yet, let alone the projects sanctioned in the last financial year, 2023-24.
The projects under NESIDS are 100 percent centrally funded ones. The state governments of the region implement all such projects. These projects are aimed at, mainly, developing infrastructure in the region.
According to the data available with The Sentinel, the Centre sanctioned as many as 170 projects under NESIDS from the financial year 2018-19 to 2023-24 with a sanctioned amount of Rs 5134.47 crore for the northeastern states. Till November 2024, only 31 of the 170 projects were completed by the states in the region.
Initially, 37 projects under NESIDS were sanctioned by the Centre with a sanctioned amount of Rs 1119.53 crore in the financial year 2018-19. However, only 12 of these projects were completed by the northeastern states. As many as 25 of the 37 sanctioned projects have not been completed as of November 2024.
Similarly, the Centre sanctioned 37 projects worth Rs 828.74 crore in the financial year 2019-20. However, only 14 of these projects were completed. In the financial year 2020-21, the Centre sanctioned 17 NESIDS projects worth Rs 491.71 crore. However, only one of these projects has been completed. Only two of the 21 NESIDS projects sanctioned in the financial year 2021-22 were completed.
The situation is no better either in the financial year 2022-23 when the Centre sanctioned 33 projects for the states in the region. Only two of these projects have been completed. In the last financial year, 2023-24, the Centre sanctioned 25 projects for the Northeast. However, the states have not completed any of the projects.
Infrastructure in the Northeast, it seems, will continue to lag behind unless the states concerned pick up their pace for the implementation of centrally funded projects.
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