Northeast chief ministers meet to boost development

SHILLONG/AGARTALA - The North Eastern Council (NEC), a regional planning body, will meet in Assam capital Guwahati Tuesday to study developmental schemes and finalise strategies to execute ‘Vision 2020′ plan for the growth of the insurgency-infested region, officials said Sunday.

Chief ministers and governors of all the eight northeastern states are the members of the council and Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Bijoy Krishna Handique is the chairman.

“The crucial Feb 9 meeting would underline the important NEC schemes in context of developmental challenges of the region, considering the terrorism that ravaged certain parts of the area,” a senior NEC official told IANS.

The official said: “The meeting would also scrutinise the progress of the implementation of the ‘Vision 2020′ plan.”

The ‘Vision 2020′ document was released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2008. It seeks to spur investment, reduce poverty, enhance connectivity and bring the backward region at par with the rest of the country by 2020. A hefty fund to the tune of Rs.14 trillion would be required to implement the project.

The Vision 2020 document was prepared after three years of consultations, taking into consideration the views of 50,000 people of the northeast and top experts and institutions across the country. It was finalised at the two-day plenary session of the NEC in Tripura capital Agartala in May 2008.

NEC, a 39-year-old regional planning body for the northeast, had entrusted the task of preparing a draft of the document to the New Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) in 2005.

According to the official, all the eight chief ministers of the region have been demanding more funds to complete the ongoing projects and to take up new developmental and infrastructural projects for the member states.

The planning commission has allocated Rs.73.94 billion for the NEC against the council’s demand of Rs.124.50 billion for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12).

“The NEC has identified 56 roads, proposed to be taken up during 11th Five Year Plan to develop road connectivity along the bordering areas as well as inter-state and inter-district connectivity,” the official added.

The seven northeastern states can only be accessed from the rest of the country through Assam, but the roads pass through steep hilly terrain and have multiple hairpin bends.

The NEC, which was constituted in 1971 by an Act of Parliament, also plans to increase surface communication with the neighbouring countries.

If Dhaka provides land and water transit facilities to India, it would facilitate transport of goods from the rest of the country to the region through Bangladesh, the official added.