NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

PM non-committal on aid to northeast

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today told chief ministers of the northeastern states that fighting insurgency was the joint responsibility of the centre and the states.

The chief ministers met him in New Delhi to request monetary assistance for development and fighting insurgency. Vajpayee underscored that "the states have to cut their administrative expenditure to get additional central funds." He pointed out that while the centre was willing to help, they had to show some financial discipline.

The chief ministers who attended were Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (Assam), Manik Sarkar (Tripura), S C Jamir (Nagaland) and Mukut Mithi (Arunachal Pradesh). The prime minister was assisted by the Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Planning Commission deputy chairman K C Pant.

According to the prime minister's media advisor H K Dua, Vajpayee categorically told the chief ministers that cooperation between the centre and the states were vital for their development.

Dua said that Sinha told the chief ministers that their demands would be considered after studying their memorandum.

The additional secretary in the union ministry of home affairs R Shenoy, who was also present at the press briefing, said that equipment of the police in the northeast was modernised at a cost of Rs 990 million. He said another Rs 2.85 billion would be spent by March, 2002.

Referring to reimbursement of security-related expenditure, Shenoy pointed out that Rs 3.85 billion had already been released to the states and a provision of another Rs 1 billion had been made for the current year.

He said all efforts were being made to ensure that rehabilitation schemes for militants were being implemented.

He pointed out that the government had approved a scheme for the fencing of 2,429 km of the Indo-Bangladesh border and construction of 797 km of roads at a cost of Rs 13.34 billion in May 2000. The project would be completed by March, 2007, Shenoy said.

He also revealed that 569 companies of para-military forces were deployed in the northeastern states. In addition, there are 105 companies of the Border Security Force on the international border with Bangaldesh, apart from regular army deployment.

He said the government was committed to resolving the issues of the northeastern states and "a ceasefire with National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isa Muviah) and Bodo Liberation Tigers was already in place." Efforts were continuing to bring other militants groups in the region to the negotiating table, he added.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report