NE CMs call for Centre's guidance and financial support

New Delhi, May 29 (UNI) The resource-constrained north-eastern states of the country today concertedly called for the Centre's benign guidance and financial support for the speedy economic development of the long-neglected region.

Addressing the 53rd meeting of the National Development Council here, the Chief Ministers of the eight states of the region -- Sikkim, Asom, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland and Mizoram -- urged the Centre to allocate them enhanced funding for Centrally-sponsored projects -- all aimed at accelerating the socio-economic transformation of the country's north-east.

Seeking treatment on a special footing -- in view of the peculiar nature of problems faced in the region as also to ensure that existing potentials were maximally exploited, the CMs contended it was necessary to fund all schemes on a 90:10 basis during the Eleventh Plan Period -- and not 50:50 as proposed during preliminary discussions.

The main-stay agriculture sector, they pointed out, had suffered over time and the need of the hour was to correct distortions in the sectoral growth -- and thereby ensure that food production was increased to make the region not only self-sufficient but, if possible, surplus in agriculture products.

Further pointing out that the nation spent huge sums on the deployment of Army and para-military forces in the north-east region, the CMs of the affected states also suggested that this money be used instead on youth empowerment and other development activities which may, in the long run, prove more effective in countering insurgencies in the region.

The CMs also called for a new thrust to be given to the promotion of border trade under the Centre's 'Look East Policy' thus enabling the north-east region become an effective cultural and economic bridge between India and South-East Asia.

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