Confusion over the role of North Eatern Councuil (NEC) and DoNER in ensuing development in the North-East has been cleared by NEC Secretary Falguni Rajkumar at a recent meeting in Kohima.

Secretary NEC, Falguni Rajkumar held a meeting with the Chief Secretary Nagaland, Lalhuma and other senior officers. During the meeting the Secretary NEC underlined the different roles played by NEC and DoNER, to clear confusions while proposals are being submitted. “NEC role has now become an Act of Parliament endorsed by all the State Government,” he said. He pointed out that NEC Act was amended in the year 2002 by an Act of Parliament as against the Act of 1972.

Rajkumar said that the States would function as constitutional bodies where NEC would coordinate the plans of the North-Eastern states. He further said that plans should be exercised in such a way so that it has inter-state linkages. Stating geographical reasons as the bottle-neck for economic development of the NE region, the Secretary NEC said the role of NEC is to oversee the developmental projects and plans of the various States. Highlighting on the DoNER Ministry he said that DoNER was at first a section in the Human Resource Ministry and was further up-graded to a Ministry in the year 2004. He said that the role of DONER is to see that funds meant for North-East are being spend in a concrete manner. “That is their primary job”, he added. Further he said that NEC is concerned with inter-state projects which have wide ranging impact and will not take up any State specific schemes. “All State specific schemes should be given to the DoNER Ministry,” he maintained. Raj Kumar also apprised the officials of the State that project proposals should be focussed on vision 2020.

Giving a scenario of the 9th Plan he said that in terms of fund utilization Nagaland stood in the 6th position and continued in the same position at the end of the 10th Plan.

Further he said that from 11th Year Plan till December 31 2007, Nagaland has jumped to the second position which he said was creditable. Various departments presented a status report on the NEC sponsored schemes and the Secretary assured that the balance amounts would be released after submission of utilization certificates. The Chief Secretary who chaired the function said that equitable distribution would be difficult owing to scarcity of resource. He further said that States which have started getting mega projects are already benefiting and lamented that rest of the States will not have big projects out of the allotted 750 crores NEC fund. To this the Secretary NEC said that he has written a letter to the Government of India for provision of special fund for funding committed State specific projects.

|  Headlines  |  Editorial   | Cover story  |
|  Travel Column   |   News Briefs  |
| OT Main Page | Nena  Home Page  |