DoNER Minister visits NEC in Shillong
Source: The Sangai Express / Newmai News Network

Imphal, July 30 2011: Union Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar, in his visit to Shillong after taking over the charge of DoNER Ministry, expressed hope that he will give his best to oversee the completion of all centrally sponsored development projects in Northeast without leakages and inordinate delays.

In a press release issued by the Government he praised his predecessor for his contribution in the region and noted that it will be his sincere effort to go ahead with the task given to DoNER Ministry and North Eastern Council (NEC) and that the ministry is trying its best to see that the national projects and the projects of the DoNER and NEC is going as schedule with full cooperation of the state government.

Ghatowar, who is also the Chairman of NEC said that NEC is a body to look after the region where almost 96 percent of the border area is international border which is a unique in one way but problematic in another.

NEC formulates plans and projects so that the region can progress at par with the other parts of the country and also makes sure that the benefits percolate down to the remotest parts of the region, he added.

He also said that there are many national projects like construction of bridge over river Brahmaputra, east-west corridor, broad gauge conversion from Lumding to Silchar, implementation of the Prime Minister's package to Arunachal Pradesh, trans highways, development of the border areas etc that are being implemented, and added that as and when NEC's help is required whether in the implementation, overseeing or evaluation of the projects, NEC will rise up to the occasion and do the needful as per requirement.

Apart from interacting with NEC officials he inaugurated a six months certificate course in tourism and hospitality management for Northeast region which will be organized by IIM at RGIIM Shillong.

The program is being organized taking into consideration the tourism potential of the Northeast and the need for human resource development.

The employability of the youth in the region in the shill intensive activities and within the manufacturing and services sector is not very high and as advocated in the NER vision 2020 document, a structural transformation in the economy can only take place by creating and enhancing the multiple dimensional capacities that are linked to the human resource requirement for expanding the primary, manufacturing and the services sector, he observed.

NEC in its endeavor in equipping the youths for embarking upon economically viable activities has sponsored a number of vocational trainings in areas such as computer hardware and software, beauty care, ayurvedic therapy, CAD/CAM, plastic technology etc, the Minister added.

He also said that NEC is also preparing a comprehensive tourism master plan for development of tourism in the region which will identify routes and plans for development of tourism in the entire Northeast region as a whole.

Comment