New Delhi, June 25: The Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region Dr Jitendra Singh released the third issue of Newsletter of North Eastern Council (NEC) Shillong, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), here today.
The Secretary, NEC, Shri Ram Muivah and Secretary (DoNER) Dr Inder Jit Singh were also present on the occasion. The Newsletter released today highlighted some of the initiatives taken by the North Eastern Council during July, 2018 to March, 2019. The Newsletter is to be uploaded on the NEC website at www.necouncil.gov.in.
While releasing the newsletter, Dr Jitendra Singh complimented the officers and staff of Ministry of DoNER and NEC for their efforts to improve the living condition of North Eastern States of the country. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, the development of NE states has been on the priority of the Government.
He added that the newly sworn-in Government is also committed to continue with the legacy of the development efforts of the last five years and work in the direction of improving infrastructure and living standards of NE people.
In July, 2018, the NEC has been restructured through the nomination of the Home Minister as Chairman, NEC and the MoS (I/C) DoNER as the Vice-Chairman, NEC. Dr Jitendra Singh dislosed that Union Minister Shri Amit Shah will chair the plenary session of NEC on 3rd and 4th August in Guwahati.
The North Eastern Council (NEC) was established by North Eastern Council Act, 1971 initially as apex level advisory body for securing balanced and coordinated development and facilitating effective co-ordination amongst seven States of North Eastern Region.
Subsequent to the amendment of NEC Act in December, 2002, Sikkim was added as 8th Member State, and NEC was mandated to function as a statutory Regional Planning Body for the North Eastern Region.
Over the last forty-seven years, NEC has been instrumental in setting up various iconic Institutes in the Region such as NEPA, NEEPCO, NERAMAC, NERIST, RIPAN, NERIWALM, RIMS etc.
Some of the major achievements of NEC are, Since its inception, NEC has focused on improving connectivity of the region which has been a major bottleneck for all developmental activities.
In its endeavour, the Council has contributed immensely towards the improvement of the inter-state connectivity in the Region. A total of 10,911 kms of roads have been constructed with the NEC funding and handed over to the States for maintenance.
The NEC has till date supported the installation of 694.5 MW of power plants and construction of 9202 cicuit km of transmission & distribution lines. NEC has also undertaken development work in various sectors like education, healthcare, agriculture, horticulture, tourism, industries etc.
Eleven Inter-State Bus terminus (ISBT) projects have been taken up across different States to ease out inter-state movement of people. Nine of these have been completed and two are under construction in Meghalaya and Manipur. To facilitate movement of essential goods, three numbers of Inter State Truck Terminus (2 in Assam and 1 in Nagaland) have been completed.
Since inception, NEC has contributed for the up-gradation strengthening of the infrastructure of the existing Airports in the region. Improvement of the infrastructure in 5 major airports of the Regions namely, Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Imphal and Umroi have been taken up in collaboration with Airport Authority of India on 60:40 (60% by NEC and 40% by AAI) basis. Out of these, the work for construction of 3 number of Hangers and Apron at LGBI Airport, Guwahati and Extension of Apron at Jorhat Airport have been completed.
The restructuring of NEC was undertaken with a view to have a forum to discuss issues such as boundary disputes, drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and ammunition, etc. which are usually discussed in the other Zonal Councils. The NE States are not part of any Zonal Council.
The Council is normally expected to meet at least twice in a year. The first Plenary Meeting of Restructured NEC (67th Plenary since inception) was held under the then Home Minister & Chairman, NEC on 8-9 July, 2018 at Shillong. The next Plenary meeting of NEC will be held in Guwahati (Assam) in August this year.
