Working Group to identify infrastructure Gaps in NE Region

New Delhi, June 14 (UNI) As part of the Government's ongoing efforts to bring the country's north-east into the national mainstream, the region's states have been asked to identify priority areas and suggest specific plans aimed at boosting economic development.

The suggestions will be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the Working Group set up to identify infrastructural gaps and to suggest specific plans for the development of the NE Region to be taken up during the Eleventh Five Year Plan, according to Minister for Tribal Affairs and DONER (Department of Development of North East Region) PR Kyndiah.

The Minister told a meeting here, of members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry, that the Working Group -- comprising representatives of various Central Ministries including Road Transport, Power, Agriculture, Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Education and Information Technology besides the Chief Secretaries of the eight North-Eastern States -- held its first meeting here earlier this month and sought the suggestions for its next meeting slated to be held next month.

Reiterating the Government's commitment to the development of the North East Region, Minister Kyndiah said it was working on the Blue Print 'North East vision-2020' aimed at taking into account the heightened consciousness of the people in the region, their aspirations, needs and sensitivities for prospective development.

The Document, likely to be finalised by the year-end, would encompass all the key sectors of the economy and the vast resource potential of the region. The Vision Document was being prepared through the process of participatory planning. An awareness and mass campaign -- covering nearly 200,000 people in over 60 districts of the region -- to elicit suggestions and ascertain the needs of the people had been completed, Mr Kyndiah told the Consultative Committee.

He said his Ministry had taken steps to streamline and simplify procedures for Detailed Project Reports on time and also for sanction of projects for the North East region to minimise delays.

With the help of the National Informatics Centre, customised software had been developed for online monitoring of projects in the region, he added.

Apprising the Members of various steps being taken up for the welfare of tribals, the Minister said the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) -- providing financial support for income-generating schemes at concessional rate to the tribal people -- had taken important steps recently including reduction in interest rates so as to reduce the burden on the beneficiaries and printing of guidelines in regional languages.

A scheme had also been prepared to undertake cluster-based activities for assisting about 25,000 STs by NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development). The members were further informed that the National Tribal Policy to cater to all the aspects of tribal development was under finalisation.

Participating in the discussion, some of the members suggested that time-bound plan be taken up to improve connectivity in the North-East Region, eco-tourism be promoted in a big way and various finance schemes for Scheduled Tribes be integrated.

The meeting was attended by Messrs Giridhar Gomang, Biren Singh Engti, Baliram Kashyap, Mansukhbai D Vasava, Khiren Rijiju, Rupchand Murmu, Baju Ban Riyan, Rajesh Kumar Manjhi, Matilal Sarkar, Dilip Singh Judev and Ongden Tshering Lepcha (all Members of Parliament).

UNI DG PR RK1720