DIMAPUR, JUNE 23: Leaders of the recently-floated North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) have appealed to the prime minister to “institutionalize budgetary provisions so that 10% of the funds of the Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) is mandatorily deposited with the Ministry of DoNER,” the chief minister stated.” The office of the Nagaland chief minister issued a press release on Thursday stating the appeal.
The NEDA have “pointed out,” according to the Chief Minister’s Office, to the prime minister of India that annual fund allocations for the northeast region was “stagnant” at Rs 800 Crore.
“What we require today is greater empowerment of the Ministry of DoNER and the NEC to serve as effective vehicle for transferring resources and capacities to the northeastern states, the CMO stated referring to a “memorandum of request” said to have been signed by “Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang, Assam Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal, Arunachal KalikhoPul, Assam Minister and Convenor of NEDA HimantaBiswaSarma, Meghalaya MP Lok Sabha and President of NPP Conrad Sangma, Ex Chief Minister of Mizoram and President of MNF ZoramThanga, Assam Minister and AGP President Atul Bora, Working President of UDP and former Meghalaya Minister Paul Lygndoh, among others.”
The decision was taken after the leaders of the NEDA met at Guwahati last night, the CMO informed.
It was also requested that annual fund allocation to the NEC should be “substantially enhanced and mechanisms be created and systems put into place… to fuel the much-desired growth of this largely backward region” of the country.
The press release also referred to the former Prime Minister Vajpayee announcing in the conference of governors and chief ministers of the northeastern region including Sikkim in January 2000, the government's creation of a pool of non-lapsable funds for the Northeast and Sikkim.
It was meant for development projects in the region so that resource gaps could be filled, the signatories said. In the early years when the visionary development plan was executed, the region witnessed “dramatic changes in its development trajectory,” the CMO claimed.
“As the benefits of economic development had yet to steadily accrue to the region, this initiative, which stipulated that at least 10% of the budgets of the central ministries/ departments, would be earmarked for the development of north eastern states was truly a definite blessing,” the letter to the prime minister is said to have stated.
“However, in the recent past, it has been noted with great apprehension that the quantum of funds allocated to the Northeast under the NLCPR has been declining. At a time when the fund allocation to the Ministry of Development of the North East Region (DoNER) and the North East Council (NEC) should have increased with corresponding rise in cost index, it is ironic that it has stagnated, to the extent that it currently has only an annual allocation of about 800 crores.
“This has greatly impacted the rate of growth of the infrastructure and economies of the northeastern states,” the letter said. Stating that development was driven by good planning, the signatories said this must be “backed by appropriate and consistency of funding.”
“The strategic importance of the states in this region, whether as a buffer to the claims on our territory by neighbors or as a corridor to the economies and markets of South East Asian nations as part of the Act East Policy, need hardly be underlined," it added.
