DoNER Forecloses 20 Assam Projects Worth Over Rs 210 Crore Amid Slow Implementation

It is high time the states concerned in the Northeast, including Assam, find out what went wrong with them in project implementation and take corrective measures.

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) is compelled to foreclose many of its projects every year in the north-eastern states for various reasons, mainly due to the slowness of progress of works by the states concerned.

The foreclosure of any project is detrimental to any state that must undertake numerous activities, which require significant manpower and financial resources, from planning to sanctioning, to secure a DoNER project. It takes more than a year for a state of the region to get a DoNER project sanctioned.

In Assam, the cause of concern is that the DoNER had to foreclose as many as 20 projects with an approved cost of Rs 210.63 crore as of mid-August, 2026. Six of the 20 foreclosed DoNER projects are under NEC schemes, and the remaining 14 projects are under the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR).

After the foreclosure of a project, DoNER does not release any funds to the concerned state for that project.  Sometimes, DoNER makes the concerned state cough up the amount released for a foreclosed project.

Some other states in the region also faced the foreclosure of DoNER projects. As of mid-August, 2026, DoNER foreclosed 117 projects with an approved cost of Rs 1,333.46 crore in the Northeast - 24 projects in Arunachal Pradesh with an approved cost of Rs 421.84 crore, nine projects in Manipur with an approved cost of Rs 194.89 crore, 11 projects in Meghalaya with an approved cost of Rs 65.33 crore, six in Mizoram with an approved cost of Rs 95.39 crore, 14 projects in Nagaland with an approved cost of Rs 141.26 crore, two projects in Sikkim with an approved cost of Rs 25.49 crore, five projects in Tripura with an approved cost of Rs 133.23 crore and 26 projects with an approved cost of 45.40 crore given to other agencies working in the Northeast.

It is high time the states concerned in the Northeast, including Assam, find out what went wrong with them in project implementation and take corrective measures.

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