Our Reporter
Dimapur, Feb. 8 (EMN): The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recognised 21 Start-ups from Nagaland out of 674 Start-ups from the North Eastern Region (NER) as on January 31, 2022.
This was stated by Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on February 7.
In terms of start-ups in NER, Assam has the highest recognised start-ups with 499, followed by Manipur with 68, Tripura with 47, Nagaland with 21, Meghalaya with 17, Sikkim with eight and Mizoram with six start-ups.
Reddy said that in the recent past, various stakeholders in the start-up ecosystem such as incubators, accelerators and other venture funds had emerged in the North Eastern Region (NER), leading to a large number of start-ups.
While the North East Development Finance Corporation Ltd., has released a total of INR 41.14 crore to 22 start-ups till date through the North East Venture Fund (NEVF), and a total of 36 proposals have received in principle commitment of INR 74.76 crore.
The minster also informed that several initiatives have been undertaken by the Government for the development of NER on a large scale since 2014-15 and as per the guidelines, all 54 non-exempted Central Ministries/departments are mandated to spend at least 10% of their Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) for Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored Schemes in NER.
In relation to 10% GBS in the NE states for 2022-23, a total of INR 76,040.07 crore budget has been estimated.
The Central Government has also taken various initiatives for improving air, rail and road connectivity thereby accelerating the development of the NER. In regard to rail connectivity, presently 20 projects for new lines as well as doubling, costing INR74,485 crore for 2,011 km length falling fully/partly in the North Eastern Region were at different stages of planning/ approval/ execution.
321 km out of 2,011 km has been commissioned and an expenditure of INR 26,874 crore has been incurred upto March 2021.
Major ongoing capital road connectivity projects in NER include four laning of Dimapur-Kohima road (62.9 km) in Nagaland; four laning of Nagaon bypass to Holongi (167 km) in Arunachal Pradesh; alternate two-lane highway from Bagrakote to Pakyong (NH-717A) (152 km) in Sikkim; two laning of Aizawl – Tuipang NH-54 (351 km) in Mizoram; four laning of Imphal – Moreh road (20 km) and two-laning of 75.4 km in Manipur.
The cost of the on-going road works in the North East Region is estimated to be INR 79, 953.39 crore.
In addition, under the erstwhile Non-Lapsable Central Pool Resources (NLCPR) scheme, a total of 1653 projects worth INR. 16,233.78 crore were sanctioned, out of which 1,204 projects worth INR 9,557.20 crore have been completed, while 431 projects worth INR 6,676.59 crore are being funded till their completion.
Under North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS), for enhancing connectivity of NER, 110 projects worth INR 2,563.14 crore have been sanctioned and are at various stages of completion.
NEC has also sanctioned 21 projects costing INR 1318.22 crore during the last five years under schemes of NEC and North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS) and these projects are at various levels of implementation.