Shillong, May 29: The 66th Plenary Meeting of North Eastern Council was held today at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, New Delhi which was attended by Chief Minister, Dr Mukul M Sangma.
Addressing the meeting, Chief Minister, Dr Mukul M Sangma said that plenary meetings of the NEC offer an occasion to reflect the agenda for the years to come and also to place certain important issues. He said that the merger of the plan and non-plan expenditure effective from 2017-18 is expected to simplify and ensure an effective budgeting but the system will need to be further fine-tuned in terms of delineating the revenue and capital expenditure. He also said there is a need to adopt a strategic approach to arrive at result-oriented investments thereby taking us to higher growth trajectory.
The Chief Minister also said that the amendment of the principal Act in the year 2002 which mandated the NEC to function as A Regional Planning Body for the North Eastern Region and to give priority to projects and schemes that benefit two or more States underscores the urgency for redefinition of the role of NEC. He also said that the Ministries of the Government of India are as yet unable to utilize 10 per cent of their budget for schemes and programmes in the North Eastern States funds which have accumulated under NLCPR are not being placed adequately at the disposal of neither the Ministry of Development of North East Region nor the State Governments for the implementation of development projects primarily on account of stringent guidelines. He urged upon the Council to place the accumulated amount lying with the Ministry of Finance with the NEC to augment its resources to fulfil its original mandate of development of North East Region.
Dr Sangma also said that Meghalaya and other states of the North East can collectively become one of the most favoured tourist destinations. The huge diversity of the region, the vibrant culture, way of life, picturesque landscape and youth with good command over English language are the inherent strengths of the region. He stressed on the need for aggregating the potentiality of the NER to promote the region as an exclusive and high end tourist destination.
The Chief Minister further informed that given the background of the region which is perceived as a conflict zone, it is imperative that the people’s love for football and the unifying power of the game must be leveraged upon to further strengthen the unity and integrity of the country. He said that the pool of talent in Sports, particularly Football, must be taken advantage of by channelizing the potentialities of the youth through promotion of Sports and Games.
Dr Mukul M Sangma said that North East has contributed to the overall development of the nation and that NEC should be further strengthened and utilized to support the Ministry of DoNER. He also called for an investment in inter-state air, road and water connectivity and added that a special allocation out of the accumulated fund under NLCPR be provided for as a special dedicated fund to NEC for these crucial sectors as Tourism, Education, Health, Sports and Youth Skill Development programmes.
Earlier, NEC Secretary, Ram Muivah, IAS informed that in the year 2016-2017 NEC has completed 96 projects and the NEC Budget for the Financial Year 2017-18 is 925.00 crores.
Issues concerning Tourism in the NER, including Committed Liabilities of Project Infrastructure Development of Destination and Circuits (PIDDC) of Ministry of Tourism, Promotion of Textiles with special emphasis on Handloom, Handicrafts, Apparel, Agriculture Marketing, Organic Farming, Horticulture and Bamboo Mission, Food Processing activities including Committed Liabilities of National Mission on Food Processing (NMPF) of Ministry of Food Processing and Documentation, Preservation and Promotion of Medicinal Plants in NER formed the agenda items of discussion for the day.
The meeting was attended by Governors and Chief Ministers of the states of North East, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), DoNER & Chairman NEC, Dr Jitendra Singh and also Secretary DoNER, Naveen Verma.
