DONER REVIEWING NE PROJECTS; Delay in use of funds & projects under scrutiny

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: All ministries (Government on India) earmark 10 per cent of their budgetary allocations for the development of the north-eastern States. However, all these ministries are now questioning the rationale behind such earmarking of funds for the Northeast where the governments can neither spend the Central funds nor complete the projects on time.

Thus non-performance on the part of the governments in the region has let these ministries go one step better in not parting with their funds for the Northeast. To cap it all, the governments in the region, including the Assam government, are infamous for not submitting "Utilization Certificates" (UCs) of the Central funds on time.

These are a few ground realities that have come to the fore during the series of meetings undertaken by the Ministry of DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) to review the progress of projects and utilization of funds in the north-eastern States. The series of review meetings that began on November 9, 2020 with the respective Chief Secretaries of the States in the region will continue for a few more days. On the part of DoNER, its Secretary DrIndraJit Singh is taking stock of the progress of projects and utilization of funds in the Northeast. While issues relating to the IT (Information Technology) department were reviewed on November 10, while that of Power and the Railway projects underway in the region will be discussed on November 12.

In February this year, during a meet on 'Sustainable Development Goal of the Northeast' conducted by the NEC (North Eastern Council), the NE States complained to DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Prasad Singh that many of the ministries were not parting with 10 per cent of their respective budgetary allocations for the development of the north-eastern States. Dr Singh assured the NE governments of taking up the matter with the ministries concerned. However, when Dr Singh took up the matter with the respective ministries, he got the prompt reply when these ministries questioned the rationale behind such earmarking of funds for a few States that can neither spend funds nor complete projects on time.

Till October 2020, Assam had unspent DoNER fund of Rs 713 crore and pending UCs worth Rs 232 crore.

During the IT review, most of the complaints were related to the lack of Power connection to completed projects, delay in clearance from Forest and Revenue departments, etc; leading to delay in projects and utilization of funds.

On November 12 this year, DoNER is going to review the Power and Railway infrastructure projects.

Since 2014, DoNER has constructed 41 new railway stations in the Northeast. The Ministry is laying stress on boosting connectivity in the region as soon as possible.

DoNER is also going to review the sources of electricity, especially the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Power Project at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh boundary.

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