BJP-ruled NE States score poorly
Source: The Sangai Express

Guwahati, October 27 2017: The Centre has pulled up North Eastern States for being ‘tardy’ in their implementation of the BJP-led NDA Government’s flagship urban development programmes .

A two-day review meeting held at Guwahati this week has found that North East India has been rather slow in almost all the pet urban makeover schemes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi .

Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland – either ruled alone by the BJP or as a member of a coalition – have done poorly .

Ironically, Opposition Congress-ruled Mizoram has done exceptionally well in all parameters and after the review, Left-ruled Tripura has received the maximum fund allocation .

“During review, it was found that many States and mostly those ruled by the BJP are lagging behind.

In many cases, Detailed Project Report (DPRs) have not been submitted, fund utilization certificates have not reached Centre.

These States have also not been able to achieve many milestones that are required to get the next release of fund,” a senior official from Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs told NDTV .

The closed-door review also found several shortcomings in other schemes like Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the official added.

Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who was in Guwahati for the review of work, acknowledged that the pace of work has “variations” .

“The system is such that if you can spend money, then you are likely to get more funds.

That’s the normal dynamics.

If activities are taking place, next instalments are required.

There will be variation, but now everything will be competitive.

We are coming up with software and app where all data will be uploaded,” Puri told NDTV.

The post-review allocation of funds for the region says it all.

While Rs 182 crore is being released for the North East, Tripura is getting the biggest share – Rs.128.53 crore and Mizoram is getting 22.8 crore.

Falling far behind, Meghalaya got Rs 2.73 crore, Nagaland got Rs 2.98 crore, Sikkim got Rs 5.35 crore, Assam got Rs.18.13 crore and Arunachal Pradesh got Rs 1.65 crore.

Manipur’s allocation have not been notified .

“Our State has a difficult terrain, it is sparsely populated.

Now for housing schemes to take material up in the hills, the costing is more.

There have been some bureaucratic delays in some of the project,” said Arunachal Pradesh Urban Development Minister Nabam Rebia.

But his Mizoram counterpart dismissed the terrain excuse.

“All the work we have done is because of a hard-working team, even sometime the team used to work on holidays to meet deadlines,” said Mizoram Urban Development Minister Zodintluanga.

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