NEC Secy points out investment deficit
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 13 2015: Newly appointed North Eastern Council (NEC) Secretary Ram Muivah has categorically stated that meaningful and tangible development can be seen in the North East region only when there is substantial investment.

Talking with The Sangai Express over telephone, Ram Muivah noted that all the Northeastern States including Sikkim are quite backward in terms of infrastructure.

Except for some old projects, these States are unable to take up new projects.

Saying that infrastructure development is his first priority, Ram Muivah lamented that the NEC is unable to take up enough projects required for economic upliftment of the region due to fund paucity.

As the annual budget of NEC is restricted to just Rs 773 crore, it has no capacity to execute any worthy project.

For meaningful and tangible development of the region, there should be sufficient investment of fund.

Development of human resources in all the Northeastern States is of paramount importance.

There must be schools as well as hostels in every corner of the region.

Even the remotest areas should be provided such basic facilities like healthcare, potable water, irrigation, power supply etc, Ram Muivah said.

Many of the targets laid down in the North East Vision 2020 are yet to be initiated although the deadline is just five years away.

If the Vision Document must be transformed into action, adequate funds should be invested.

Different authorities of the region should inform the Government of India about all the elements needed for realizing the Vision 2020. At the same time, all the Northeastern States should ensure that whatever funds invested in their respective States are utilized in time and strictly in accordance to the guidelines, said the NEC Secretary.

He noted that undue delay in utilization of funds often entails many officials problems in obtaining additional funds.

The NEC has been planning to seek additional funds from the Centre in January next year if the funds sanctioned by NEC to different States can be fully utilized by December this year.

On being enquired about air connectivity, Ram Muivah said that there are plans to augment and upgrade airports in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya.

Funds required for airport expansion projects would be given in the form of grants.

But for the NEC, Rs 100 crore for each State is too much.

It exceeds the NEC's annual budget.

At the same time, sharing whatever fund available with the NEC would not help much.

It's better to do away with token investment and tokenism, he asserted.

The North East region with around 40 million people and which is similar to South Korea in territorial size needs a huge investment from the public sector.

Private sector will follow suit only after the public sector starts result-oriented investment in the region.

Total estimated cost of the priority projects submitted by the Government of Manipur to NEC is Rs 929 crore and this figure the annual budget of the council.

This incompatibility indicates there are lots to be done to uplift the Northeastern region at par with other regions of the country, he remarked.

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