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Centre to create Rs 15-bn pool to kickstart projects in North-East

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today said his government was examining the feasibility of creating a central pool of resources which will give critical additional support for the accelerated implementation of projects in the North-Eastern region.

Addressing a meeting of chief ministers of North-Eastern states and Sikkim to discuss economic development in the region, Vajpayee said this pool, created from the unspent balance of the allocated expenditure of ten per cent of the budgets of the central ministries concerned, could well amount to about Rs 15 billion annually.

He said this will be an important additional resource for accelerated implementation of inter-state infrastructure and employment-oriented projects in the region. ''That is also where the North-East Council can play a more productive role''.

''I have no doubt a restructured NEC would be able to give a new development thrust to the entire region,'' Vajpayee said.

Vajpayee said the NEC will have to play a far more meaningful role in the socio-economic transformation of the region than has been the case so far. This is the guiding principle behind the government's decision to restructure the NEC, he said.

As a necessary first step, Sikkim would become a full-fledged member of the NEC, with the necessary legislation for this purpose to be introduced in the coming session of Parliament.

He said the plan allocations to the NEC would accordingly be augmented. In the process, the NEC would be further strengthened and given a new orientation.

The prime minister said the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, following the completion of required legislation, will become the chairman of NEC.

This council will deal exclusively with the development issues of the states of the North-East in an integrated regional and national perspective, he added.

Vajpayee said the NEC will have to shoulder the responsibility for speedy implementation of all important infrastructure projects, and underlined the overriding importance of implementing development projects within the scheduled time.

Another important development issue which he would like to raise was about the best possible utilisation of the resources, the prime minister added.

''I hardly need to emphasise that mere infusion of financial resources cannot by itself achieve the development goals. The key was timely and efficient implementation. Apart from the absorption capacity of each state, there are also very relevant aspects of priorities, inter-linkages between sectors, the duration of each scheme or project, the maintenance of assets thus created, returns in financial as well as social terms in the quickest possible span of time and the widest spread of benefits,'' he said.

The prime minister said an impression persisted that too many schemes, projects and initiatives have been undertaken with the best of intentions but the results have not always been commensurate with the efforts made. That is why it was necessary to realign the investment priorities and modalities of implementation.

''What I would like to propose is that we move away from attaching exclusive importance to allotment of sums of money alone, as the only proof of an initiative of development, to one of a more comprehensive and result-oriented approach''.

Vajpyee said the new approach should be based on specific projects, with realistic expectations of results which can be executed transparently and quickly. This approach must also aim, in a much more focussed way, at the creation of sustainable employment opportunities.

As a first step, he said, he was directing the Planning Commission to identify such projects nearing completion and with balancing funds, bring them to the delivery stage.

In this context, another important area which needs the government's attention was improving the delivery system and also greater transparency in implementation. ''Our citizens, for whose benefit, after all, the various programmes and projects are implemented, should be made more aware of the project features, the funds provided, the executing agency, and the target dates of completion," Vajpayee said.

UNI

EARLIER REPORT:
Government plans major changes to woo North-East

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