NEC meeting

The 8^th meeting of the NEC was held at Guwahati on 9^th of February ,2010 . Apart from the attendance of all CM’s of member NE States , the DONER Minister and Chairman of NEC, B.K.Handique and the Union Home Secretary , G.K.Pillai were also present on the occasion.

Handique  said that higher allocation to the Couincil will only come with increased spending.. He asked all NE CM’s  that funds sanctioned by the NEC be utilized properly  and utilization certificates( UC’s) submitted in time. “ Delay in submission of the certificates poses problem to the Council in releasing the second instalment of funds.”

Some states requested for some relaxation in  submission of UC’s . However Handique was very categorical in spelling out the mantra to all the States that  there is immediate need to speed up the utilization of funds. The Minister revealed that though  the proposed allocation for NEC during the 11^th 5 year plan  was Rs 7394 crores, the actual disbursement has only been Rs 1824 crores in the first three years  of this Plan period.

Demand for equal distribution of funds to all states and opening up connectivity within the North East and also to SE Asian countries was some of the demands made by  some  member states. The Assam CM , Tarun Gogoi , in fact led the demand for better connectivity. Linking poor connectivity to the backwardness of the region , Gogoi said  that there is urgent need to improve the same  to ensure development of the common people as also  to fight  insurgency. Gogoi also harped on developing the Education sector, keeping in mind the high number of school dropouts in this region. He asked NEC to give incentives to private educational institutions to broaden the ambit of education in Assam and the NE. The Assam CM also raised the demand for a separate Agriculture policy for the NE.

In fact the Tripura CM, Manik Sarkar strongly backed Gogoi in almost all his points . Sarkar also talked likewise of drastic improvement in rail road and water connectivity to remove poverty and increase the per capita growth. He also talked of giving larger assistance to the farmers in forms of better equipments and subsidies and  supported Gogoi in demanding a separate Agriculture policy for NE. He also demanded the raising of the NEC budget to Rs 2000 crores. Almost all other states also backed Sarkar and similarly demanded the raising of the NEC budget. The equitable distribution of funds to all member states was demanded by the CM’s of Nagaland , Sikkim and Mizoram.

Handique said that all the demands and points raised by the member states have been well taken by the NEC but that the meeting did not take any decision on them . He said his Ministry will dwell and give time on all the issues and demands raised and will try to bring an amicable solution to these problems /issues.

 The Union Home Secretary also confidently said that  top ULFA leader Anup Chetia will be handed over to India soon. No date has been fixed yet but the ‘transfer of sentenced prisoners agreement’ has been concluded with the Bangladesh Govt and so we hope that Anup Chetia  will come to Assam soon. India for long has been seeking Chetias transfer after he was arrested in 1997  from Dhaka and has been lodged in jail in Bangladesh,but the fact that Bangladesh and India has no extradition treaty always came in between as the obstacle. Chetia also has an Interpol notice against him and is in the list of most wanted criminals of the country. India has made afresh bid seeking Chetia after the two countries signed  a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty(MLAT) this January.

Pillai also revealed that the top leadership of the NSCN-IM has agreed to come to New Delhi for the next round of talks in the early part of April( according to one senior MHA official accompanying the Home Secretary, Aril 1^st to 10^th is taken to be the period when this visit will materialize) this year. Pillai said that the Govt of India  will discuss its counter proposals given to the IM in an effort to hammer out a solution to the long drawn Naga impasse . The Home Secretary said that New Delhi will very shortly appoint an Interlocutor for the purpose. It was a former Home Secretary , K. Padmanabhaiah , who had served as the Interlocutor with the Naga group for about a decade. If this visit actually materializes then it will be after a year that the talks will resume. The last round was held in March ‘2009 in Zurich, Switzerland but couldn’t make much headway.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the  58^th NEC meeting in Guwahati on 9^th Feb,Union Home Secretary, GK Pillai revealed that extensive discussions have taken place between himself , Assam Chief Secretary, P.C.Sharma and Assam DGP, Shankar Barua  in the beginning of the month of February as to how to proceed  with  the ULFA. He said that following this discussion , the MHA is almost on the threshold of forming a strategy to deal with the ULFA. “The same will be submitted to the Union Home Minister soon. He in turn will then discuss the same with the Assam CM …..they will take the final decision then.” , informed Pillai.

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