EMN
Dimapur, January 5
The Inter-Ministerial Committee of a new road developmental scheme of the central government has included a stretch of a highway in Nagaland as one of several projects the Ministry of Development of North east region (DoNER). The controversial road, Wokha-Merapani-Golaghat road in Nagaland, is one among several that the government announced on Tuesday, January 5 in New Delhi.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the DoNER ministry, PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh announced the new development during a ceremony on Tuesday marking the release of the ministry’s northeast region-themed ‘calender-2016’ in Delhi on Tuesday.
The theme of the calendar released this year is “Rising North East” which is depicting developing modern North East. During the event, the minister gave a brief outline about the festival “Destination north-east-2016” which is being organized by the ministry during 12-14 February, 2016. The idea of the event is to showcase the inherent economic, social and cultural strength of the North East Region at National Level, the ministry said in a press release issued to the media on Tuesday.
The Calender-2016 projects various buildings and other developmental works carried out in each state of the North Eastern Region, with the assistance of Ministry of DoNER. There are 12 photographs showing some of the infrastructure development activities in North Eastern Region under the various schemes of MDoNER. Out of these 12 pictures, two each are from Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and one each from Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi.
Briefing about the festival “Destination north-east-2016”, Singh said that the main focus of the festival is to bring mainstream India closer to the north east, so that rest of India gets to know about the north east. He said that the Ministry is committed to change the face of north east by the end of this year. The Minister said that the MDoNER is also working for promoting Public Private Partnership in north east.
He said that the ministry is also working with other ministries to coordinate the development work in the north east region. He also informed that the north east will be taken in the first phase of skill development program. Sikkim will soon be declared the first ‘Organic state’ in the country, he added.
Also, Dr Jitendra Singh today announced the introduction of an exclusive road construction agency for Northeast which would be known as “North-East Road Sector Development Scheme” (NERSDS) and would primarily focus on inter-State roads, popularly referred to as “orphan” roads connecting one State with the other and often found to be neglected.
Elaborating on the new initiative of DoNER Ministry to develop the road sector, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the NERSDS was unique of its kind and ‘perhaps the first of its kind introduced with the primary objective of promoting inter-state roads in the region. Earlier, the roads were being ‘maintained randomly by different agencies including the North-Eastern Council (NEC), the minister said.
He said, the first meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for this scheme was held recently in which five neglected inter-state roads were recommended for funding. The roads are
• Daimukh-Harmuti Road in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam,
• Tura-Mankachar Road in Assam,
• Assam portion of Sherkhan-Bagha Bazar Road,
• Wokha-Merapani-Golaghat road in Nagaland and Assam
• Jamai-Taning Road in Manipu.
The National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL) will be the project implementing agency for the road projects undertaken by NERSDS, he informed.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that he himself had been travelling to northeast whenever there was a sudden adverse situation or calamity like floods, violence or earthquake. He also mentioned that he visited Manipur yesterday, within hours of an earthquake having struck the region. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keeping a personal track of the development activities in North-Eastern region.
Also, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the MDoNER was responsible for the matters relating to the Planning, Execution and Monitoring of development schemes and projects in the North Eastern Region. Its vision is to accelerate the pace of socio-economic development of the region. He said that the Ministry owns the north east in entirety, going beyond its defined mandate and is ready to contribute in the development of north east in each possible manner.
Naveen Verma, Secretary, MDoNER said that the focus of Ministry is on development of North east. He also said that the upcoming festival will focus on various sectors including tourism, food processing, skill development and variety of culture and cuisines of North East region.
The festival “Destination north-east-2016” will display various facets of North East in its myriad forms and colors through events as the proposed mega events. The event will include theme specific business summit consisting of sectors like, Tourism, agriculture, food processing, skill development and entrepreneurship, IT, handloom and handicrafts, livelihood, micro-finance and start-ups. The aim of business summit is to attract investment in all Sectors and economic activities.
Stalls are proposed to be set up which shall showcase the best features of north eastern states/ government programs / scheme operational in the NE Region and also give an opportunity to different sectors to deliver their achievements, issues, constraints and challenges.
There will be cultural programs (music, dance etc.) and fashion shows showcasing fabrics of the north east in the evening. Food stalls presenting “north eastern cuisines” would also be set up to ‘make people relish the north eastern cuisines.’
