Meagre DONER Ministry Fund Worries North Eastern Council (NEC)

GUWAHATI: The current fund allocation to the DONER ministry is meagre and the North Eastern Council (NEC) has to do a lot to create more success stories in the region.

The above was a statement of concern and anguish of the NEC secretary Ram Muivah. Speaking at an interactive meet organized by the Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) in New Delhi on Tuesday, Muviah said the NEC is planning to submit projects/proposed budgets to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore for a period of five years.

Rameswar Teli, who has recently taken charge as the Minister of State for food processing industries said that his ministry has an annual budget of Rs1,400 crore and 10 per cent of the budgeted amount could be allocated to the North East. He said his ministry has made a target to utilize Rs. 110 crore in the NE region by December this year.

Teli urged the industry fraternity to come forward for setting up units in the region by taking advantage of the incentives and subsidies being offered under various schemes of the Central government.

FINER president Pabitra Buragohain, in his welcome address, emphasized on fast tracking the implementation of the Act East policy and issues related to connectivity in the region.

Rajya Sabha member Bhubaneswar Kalita delved on the historically rich heritage, flora and fauna and available resources of the NE region, and also dwelt on the fact that at the time of India's independence the GDP of the region was much higher than the National Average, which came down substantially thereafter, due to various reasons.

A detailed presentation was made by FINER director Sandeep Khaitan giving concrete suggestions on the roadmap ahead for the overall development of NE, primarily in economic aspects such as connectivity, improvement in banking sector, issues of closure of coal mining pursuant to NGT bans, the promised revival of HPC paper mills, and the deficiencies in the North East Industrial Development Scheme.

Also Read: Assam's DoNER Ministry recommended Eight Road Projects Cancelled by Central Cabinet