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 has asked the DoNER Ministry officials to keep in the loop, the various Deputy Commissioners or District Development Commissioners in North-Eastern States by way of regular interaction with them through different means including video conference. This, he said, will ensure a better coordination at the ground level and overcome the missing gaps in carrying forward the DoNER projects at the miocro level.Addressing a meeting of Administration in Dibrugarh, Assam , Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the last one year, he has experienced that many of the DoNER projects fall short of achieving their fixed targets partly also because the Union DoNER Ministry tends to liaison at the State Secretariat level, as a result of which, sometimes the District Development Commissioners are not in the loop. In order to rise to the aspirations of the common masses and make the various DoNER related development projects optimum for public welfare, he said, it is essential to take cognizance of the ground facts at the district and block level for which the District Administration can prove to be of immense help.
Even in the exercise of preparing the priority list of projects to be proposed to the State Government by the Union DoNER Ministry, Dr Jitendra Singh said, he would suggest to the State Governments to develop a mechanism wherein the Deputy Commissioner of the district along with local MLA and local MP, has a say. Since the DoNER Ministry takes up the projects on the basis of priority fixed by the State Government, he said, sometimes a certain project recommended for a certain area, later appears to be different from the project which the local population desires and this contradiction can be overcome by devising a suitable mechanism. The officers of the Dibrugarh Administration placed before Dr Jitendra Singh the requirement to initiate a sewage and drainage project for the city for which he suggested that the matter may be taken up with the State Government and the support from the DoNER Ministry may be sought in whatever capacity feasible. Dr Jitendra Singh also discussed with Administration the issue of release of DoNER funds for various projects vis-à-vis the submission of the timely submission of Utilization Certificates by State Government. Senior officials of the DoNER Ministry and District Administration of Dibrugarh were also present in the meeting.