Darjeeling MP hails Modi Govt's NE vision
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal/Kalimpong, July 19 2022: Darjeeling MP and BJP national spokesperson Raju Bista has expressed hope that the NDA government at the Centre will work towards including North Bengal under the purview of the North East Council (NEC) .

Bista said that including North Bengal, especially the Darjeeling hills and the Terai and Dooars areas, under the NEC will ensure that the region too gets benefits of various developmental priorities, projects and schemes of the central government.

"The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only outlined a development vision for the Northeast but has also provided adequate financial resources towards realising the same.

In the past 8 years, our government has provided over Rs 3,36,640.97 crore towards the development of the northeast," the MP said in a statement on Tuesday.

"As our nation takes concrete steps towards realising the vision of PM Modi's "Aatma Nirbhar", I must say this with pride that our North Eastern states and region will not be left wanting," he said.

"The region will be contributing equally towards nation building and will be leading from the front in ensuring the economic prosperity of the nation," he added.

While acknowledging that PM Modi has been prioritising development of the NE states under the slogan of 'Seva, Sushasan and Garib Kalyan', the MP conveyed that he had been raising posers in the Parliament relating to the development of NE region under the NDA government.

Along with seeking detailed statistics regarding the number of projects undertaken since 2014 onwards for connectivity and development in the northeast region and state-wise present status of completion/pendency of projects, MP Bista said in the statement that he received a relevant reply from DoNER minister G Kishan Reddy that 54 ministries/departments under the Central government are today required to spend at least 10 per cent of their budget in the NE region.

In 2014-15 the total budget allocated for the development of NE states was Rs 24819.18 crore which was raised in 2021-22 to Rs 70874.32 crore, marking an increase of over 285 per cent in the past 8-years alone, he noted and further highlighted how the Union government is working towards developing 'six pillars of connectivity' for provisioning better infrastructure and connectivity for the region, these include air connectivity, rail connectivity, road connectivity, waterway connectivity, power connectivity and telecom connectivity.

"Thus, given the geographical continuity, socio-cultural, linguistic and other shared history and heritage of Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars with the rest of the NE region, I am also most hopeful that the government will work towards including North Bengal too in the North East Council.

This will ensure that North Bengal too will get to benefit from the various developmental priorities, projects and schemes of the central government," he said.

The NEC is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the North eastern region, which consists of the eight states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

Constituted in 1971 by an Act of the parliament, the council has marked the beginning of a new chapter of concerted and planned endeavour for the rapid development of the region.

Comment