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(Left to right) TR Zeliang, Secretary of DoNER Naveen Verma, and members of parliament Ninong Ering, Gaurav Gogoi, and KG Kenye at the NEC committee’s meeting on September 16 in Dimapur. (DPRO)[/caption]
Dimapur, September 16 : The first meeting of North East Council’s (NEC) ‘committee for connectivity including road and highways, airports and air connectivity, railways and inland waterways’ was conducted on Friday at Chumukedima in Dimapur.
The chief minister of Nagaland, TR Zeliang, also the chairman of the committee, said in his opening remarks that the NEC needed to promote research and innovation and provide ‘strategic policy vision for the region in order to help the member states in the planning and execution of projects.’
Zeliang felt that the mandate of the NEC was in need of expansion ‘from being a regional planning body to that of a regional planning and development body.’
"To ensure success of prime minister's vision to transform the NEC, there is an urgent need to augment its budgetary outlay and provide the required manpower with specialised knowledge and skills so as to enable it to make meaningful contributions to the development of north east region,” he said.
Also, Zeliang said that the Act East Policy of the Government of India had placed the north eastern region “in the development map of the country.” Further, he said that flagship schemes of the central government such as the National Road Development Programme, the SARDP-NE, the PMGSY, and the National Programme for Railways and Air Connectivity had ‘provided new hope’ to the people of the region to develop and grow with the rest of the country.
The politician also highlighted various other inputs on roads, railway, air connectivity, and inland waterway development in the region.
Also, Member of Parliament KG Kenye expressed appreciation at the ‘seriousness of the centre and the institution of NEC along with DoNER (Ministry of Development of North East Region) for trying to implement the required development for the region.’
The Rajya Sabha member was of the view that the north east was in need of 'special attention because of the area being land-locked.’ Proper input and feedback from the states are required for the identification of ‘genuine areas that need to be addressed,’ he said.
Also, remarking that a ‘good beginning’ had been made, Kenye expressed optimism that the NEC and the DoNER would start implementing the projects.
