Assam Govt spreading misinformation on NEIPP: Sitharaman

Guwahati, Jan 29: Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today took accused Assam's Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government of spreading 'misinformation' on the North East Industrial Promotion Policy, initiated by the UPA-1 government in 2007.

Asserting there has been a lot of misinformation spread by Assam Congress regarding the policy, Sitharaman said, "To begin with, NEIPP as a policy has several loopholes. It was an open ended scheme with no limit on the number of proposals to be accepted from the industries. However, very limited budget was allocated for it."

Gogoi had earlier accused the Narendra Modi government of suspending registration of business under the policy.

Speaking at the Assam Nirman's Inaugural Conclave in Guwahati hosted by the BJP state unit, the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said, "Only approx Rs 700 crore was earmarked for NEIPP in the 11th Five Year Plan. To put it in contrast, the disbursement in a single year of 2014-15 has been more than that."

"The NEIPP has resulted in uneven sectoral growth with most of the benefits going to only a few sectors like cement industry. There is a need to rationalise this before reopening the scheme for fresh proposals."

Asserting that the NDA government was committed towards economic development of the state, the Union Minister said a new industry promotion scheme for the North East was being considered by the Ministry of Finance whereby future funding could be re-routed through the DoNER Ministry using its Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR-Central Scheme).

'Assam Nirman' is an effort on part of the BJP's state unit to reach out to intellectuals and civil society for participatory agenda setting for the state.

PTI