New Delhi: Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy on Thursday took a dig at the previous Congress-led government at the Centre , and stated that it gave less concentration for development of North East.
“Earlier government gave less concentration to North East. Since 2014, after Narendra Modi became the PM, he has been giving special concentration on the region,” Reddy said at a press conference here, as he apprised that the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved continuation of schemes of DoNER Ministry , with an outlay of Rs 12,882.2 crore, for the balance period of the 15th Finance Commission (2022-23 to 2025-26).
Talking about the law and order situation in the North East, the minister said, ”
“North East was previously known for unrest, bombings, bandhs etc.For many years , there were insurgency problems in the region. In the last eight years, peace has been established in the region under the leadership of the PM Narendra Modi.”
“There has been a 74 per cent reduction in insurgency incidents, 60 per cent reduction in incidents of attacks on security forces and 89 per cent reduction in civilian deaths. Around 8,000 youth had surrendered and joined the mainstream, welcoming at a better future for themselves and their families,” Reddy said.
Citing that the government is committed for development of the region under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, the minister said, “Massive efforts have been undertaken for infrastructure development in the region. Improving connectivity has been the prime focus.
“The region has witnessed massive increase in the budgetary allocations . Since 2014, more than Rs four lakh crore have been allocated for the region,” Reddy said.
On air connectivity in North East, the minister said, “Air connectivity has also improved massively. Earlier, North East had only nine airports, it jumped to 17 in a short span of eight years.”
For improving railway connectivity, Rs 51,019 crore have been spent since 2014, he said.
Nineteen new projects worth Rs 77,930 crores have been sanctioned, Reddy added.
Citing that waterways are integral to life and culture of North East, the minister said , “The government is undertaking all efforts to develop this important sector in the region. Before 2014 there was only 1 national waterway in the region. Now there are 18 national waterways. ”
He also informed that around Rs 190 crore have been spent towards enhancing skill development infrastructure in North Eadt and upgradation of existing government ITIS into model ITIS between 2014 and 2021.
A total of 193 new skill development institutes have been set up and Rs 81.83 crores spent as expenditure towards skilling, Reddy added.
Referring to the Cabinet’s decision, the minister said, “Based on the Expendidture Filnance Committee (EFC) recommendations, the outlay for the North East Special Infrastructure Scheme (NESIDS) will be Rs 8139.5 crore including committed liabilities of ongoing projects. The outlay for ‘Schemes of NEC’ will be Rs 3202.7 crore including committed liabilities of ongoing projects. ”
The outlay for ‘Special Packages’ for BTC, DHATC and KAATC in Assam is Rs 1,540 crore (BTC- Rs 500 crore, KAATC – Rs 750 crore and old packages of BTC, DHATC and KAATC – Rs 290 crore). The NESIDS, a Central sector scheme with 100 per cent central funding, has been restructured having two components – NESIDS (Roads) and NESIDS (other than road infrastructure), he informed.
The Ministry’s new scheme “Prime Minister’s Development initiative for the north eastern region – PM-Devine” (with an outlay of Rs 6, 600 crore), had been approved earlier in October-2022 separately, under which larger and high impact proposals under infrastructure, social development and livelihood sectors are taken, he added.
