Presiding over the meeting of Consultative Committee for the Ministry of DoNER here, 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 hailed the support received by him from Members of Parliaments (MPs) from the North Eastern States. Dr Jitendra Singh thanked the MPs for their enthusiastic participation in the discussion on Budget Grants for the Ministry of DoNER in the Lok Sabha and noted that during the discussion, the MPs had encouraged him by offering their support for various initiatives in the Northeast. He also observed that the MPs were unanimous even in certain difficult matters related to Northeast.
At the meeting, the members observed two-minute silence in the memory of former Lok Sabha Speaker and eminent Northeast leader and MP, Shri P A Sangma, Reiterating Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s special focus on the development of Northeast, Dr Jitendra Singh said that he has taken a serious note of the observation made by each MP, one after the other, for revisiting the pattern of financial funding in the Northeast. He admitted that there were issues related to delay in submission of DPRs, failure to submit timely Utilization Certificates (UCs) and escalation of project cost due to delay. He said that the Ministry of DoNER is in the process of working out various options to come out of this situation, which includes, greater involvement of State Governments in processing the DPRs and re-defining the quantum of the financial instalments in funding of each project.
Dr Jitendra Singh also proposed that an attempt will be made to hold the future meetings of the Consultative Committee of Ministry of DoNER in one of the State capitals in North Eastern Region instead of holding these in the Union Capital of New Delhi. The focus in the coming months, however, will continue to remain on road connectivity and construction of new airports, he added.Secretary DoNER, Shri Naveen Verma, Secretary North Eastern Council, Shri Ram Muivah and other senior officers from Ministry of DoNER were also present on the occasion.