The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said in Dibrugarh, Assam today that under the scheme of Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), the Ministry of DoNER has so far sanctioned around Rs. 4000 crore worth of projects for the State of Assam.Dr Jitendra Singh presented statistical evidence to show how Centre had been providing liberal funding to States and cited exact figures to prove that 436 NLCPR projects at a cost of Rs. 3382.88 crore had been granted to Assam. Out of these, 217 projects worth Rs. 1288.48 crore have already been completed, while 219 projects at an approved cost of Rs. 2094.39 crore are on-going for which also an amount of Rs. 1093.28 crore has been already released to Assam, he added. This is in addition to the 81 ongoing projects undertaken by North Eastern Council in Assam at an approved cost of Rs. 766.43 crore, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, under the NLCPR, an amount of Rs. 1161.64 crore was released to the eight North-Eastern States, out of which Rs. 284.86 crore, which means about 25%, was released only to the single State of Assam. The Central government, Dr Jitendra Singh said, has not only given a push to the already ongoing projects, but has also attended to the hitherto unattended areas. Citing example, he referred to the setting up of the recent North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS), which will undertake upgradation of 1666 kms long neglected inter-state roads of Northeast, out of which 522 kms falls within the State of Assam.
While tomorrow itself, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is visiting Dibrugarh to commission the mega project of “Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd” (BCPL). Only recently, the present government at the Centre announced the setting up of a new AIIMS in Assam. Similarly, the present government had approved 18 new FM Radio Channels for Northeast which included six towns of Assam and “Arun Prabha” a 24X7 TV channel was also approved by the present government only, he added. Dr Jitendra Singh reiterated that the present government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi accords high priority to Assam which is evident from the fact that practically every week, one or the other Union Minister is on tour in one or the other part of the State to take an assessment of development and gather feedback from the ground.