Imphal, September 01: Governor Ved Marwah said regional disparities and large scale unemployment are the root causes of insurgency and social unrest in Manipur and other States in tile North East. Participating in the 49th National Development Council presided by the Prime Minister at Delhi today Marwah said although Sukla Commission recommended a total of Rs 27,392 crores for bringing North East at par with the rest of the country.

Manipur's recommended share was Rs 3,573,24 crores for the Ninth Plan.

But adequate investments have not been coming, as a result the North East including Manipur continues to suffer gross disparities.

Hence the Tenth Plan will need to address this in all seriousness, the Governor said.

He said Manipur being a special category State, has a low resource base and therefore is not in a position to mobilize resources for its development needs.

Like other special category States, Manipur was required to create an infrastructure that was out of proportion to its resource base.

Manipur is lagging behind the rest of the country by 21 pc in respect of infrastructure development, he said suggesting that the pool of resources for a]location of Central Assistance to the special category States be enhanced from 30 pc to 35 pc.

Stating that North East was closely interlinked historically with neighboring countries like Myanmar and Bangladesh, the 1947 partition had cut off the land route through Bangladesh.

This has not only considerably increased the distance between the NE region and India but also has an adverse impact on the economies of the landlocked States.

So there is a crying need for special diplomatic and political initiatives to reintegrate the economies of the NE States with these countries.

This can be achieved, to some extent, by upgradation and extension of the railway lines from Kolkata to Dhaka and Silchar and thereafter from Jiribam to Imphal and to Myanmar through Moreh, it can subsequently be extended to Bangkok and Singapore, he said.

The Governor also urged the Centre to take an early decision on the extension of the super highway from Silchar to Imphal and Moreh.

He expressed the hope that such a project will generate considerable employment for the growing number of unemployed youths of Manipur and other States in the region.

He also demanded speedy implementation of the 1500 MW Tipaimukh project and to modify centrally sponsored schemes for generating maximum employment opportunities.

Marwah also urged the Council to consider restoration of the pre-1989 method of neutralizing negative Balance from Current Revenue (BCR) by providing Central Assistance to them by way of special consideration and in view of the devastating impact of the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations.

The revised pay scales has eroded the financial position of the economically backward States like Manipur to such an extent that the implementation of the development and welfare programmes have practically stopped.

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