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North Eastern Council seeks more powers from Centre

The North Eastern Council has sought more powers and finances at its disposal to accelerate development work in the region.

In the 41st meeting of the council, held at Chumukedima in Nagaland and represented by all the seven states of the region, it was pointed out that the number of projects undertaken by the NEC at present were not adequate.

The council asked for more project funds from the Planning Commission, besides being given full power to sanction schemes and allocate funds to specific states even when they were not meant for projects of a regional nature.

It was suggested that in future, the NEC should only take up schemes costing between Rs 850 million and Rs 1 billion. Schemes below Rs 850 million could be taken up by the state governments and those above Rs 1 billion should be funded by the Centre, it added.

Addressing a press conference after the conclusion of the meeting, chairman of the council and Arunachal Pradesh Governor Mata Prasad refuted charges that the council was discriminating in its funding patterns, and said the states failed to take into account all projects and schemes funded by the NEC.

The chairman said the power sector had received the highest allocation, as the north-east region had the potential to fulfil over 38 per cent of the total power requirement of the country.

On the maintenance of roads, Prasad said the states were facing problems mantaining the NEC-completed roads, as they were not able to get adequate funds from the Centre. The council was continuing to press the Centre to allocate more funds for maintenance of these roads, he added.

On the question of restructuring the NEC, the governor said several suggestions had been made on the issue, but a final decision would be taken only on May 8 at a meeting of the chief ministers of the North-Eastern states. That meeting has been convened by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi, Prasad added.

UNI

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