New NE security plan on anvil

DoNER brainstorms on improving security scerio to carry out development projects

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, May 22: DoNER minister Dr Jitendra Singh today convened a meeting of senior intelligence officers and security experts in New Delhi to discuss new innovative security initiatives which could be put in place in the Northeast with a view to successfully accomplish the development plans and projects in the region.

The meeting, among others, was attended by tiol Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Chairman of Joint Intelligence Committee RN Ravi, Director Intelligence Bureau, Dineshwar Sharma, former BSF DG EN Rammohan, former ITBP and CRPF DG Vikram Srivastava and retired IPS officers Dr Satyapal Singh and Vishnu Dayal Sharma.

Dr Singh said the idea to hold such a meeting was inspired by the realization that developmental works undertaken by the Government of India in the Northeast could achieve their optimum utility and progress only in the presence of compatible security environment. Prime Minister rendra Modi has taken keen interest in all the issues related to the Northeast and in fact today’s security related exercise was inspired and encouraged by him, he added.

There were certain issues and problems peculiar to the Northeast, said Dr Singh, and therefore these required to be dealt with exclusively. He referred to a number of suggestions which had emerged in relation to improving the security scerio in the region. These included the suggestion for modernisation of police as well as ‘police modernisation grant’ for Northeastern States and redeployment in the region of the existing forces like Assam Rifles and ITBP.

Although the issues, per se, pertain to Ministry of Home Affairs but since these have a strong bearing on developmental activities, economy and ‘Act East Plan’, the DoNER Ministry has taken upon itself the exercise to study and gather relevant security inputs and place them before the concerned authorities and the Ministry of Home Affairs for their perusal.

A number of suggestions were also made from the point of view of identifying trade corridors intra-regiolly among the Northeastern States as well as with the countries across the eastern borders, and a suggestion for ‘integrated’ check posts was also put forward for consideration. Alietion of people leading to agitations and road-blockades affected both the economy as well as development activity and therefore a blueprint was sought to be developed to deal with these related problems.

The meeting decided that very soon, an exercise will be kick-started by identifying the most sensitive districts of the region from security point of view and deliberating on the roadmap ahead through presentations by security officials working on the ground as well as by veteran experts and security scholars specializing in the Northeast.