For the first time probably, stock taking is taking place. Result: red faces everywhere. And explanations by the dozen. Perform or perish is the market idiom. It is modified for the NE: ‘Perform or forget funds’ The new dictum is the innovation of the Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). It has taken almost two years to come to grips on acting tough.  

Will the Indraprastha babus and mantris have the guts to remain firm? Too early to say. But the willingness to view the lapses ‘seriously’ as the Minister C. P. Thakur and his deputy Tapan Sikdar did is a welcome development. Obviously, they are guided by electoral considerations, an urge to show that he is different from his Congress predecessors, and needless to say, to prove to the masters that they can deliver.

Thakur-Sikdar visited Guwahati to review the progress of the Prime Minister’s 28-point socio-economic agenda, unveiled in Shillong on January 2000. They held a long closed door session with the top bureaucrats of the eight sister states. “Implementation is faulty,” Sikdar told the presspersons later, adding, “It is a “minus point”.

Why?

Here is the check list

•  Follow up action only on 7 out of 28 Points

• Govt approval /sanction is needed for 17 schemes. This is in place

• No sanction is needed for another 4 schemes. Yet progress is tardy.

• Total cost: Rs 13,411 crore

• Total sanction: Rs 11,957 crore

• Funds released Rs 5,268.

• Total Projects under Non-lapsable Funds: 546 projects (Rs. 3,103 crore)                                 

• Outlay on new NLCPR projects: Rs. 550 crore

Thakur advocated fast track development of the region. For this however he needs the willing participation of the states. He asked the North Eastern Council (NEC) to complete all pending projects by March next. He did not hide his annoyance that some states are not even sending fund utilisation certificates (UCs) in time.

As DoNER Secretary Atul Sinha remarked, UCs are “only one part of the story.” The Brahmaputra Board, Thakur said, should take up flood control, anti-soil erosion and power generation projects. We can consider tapping foreign aid for such projects, he said and added power sector projects should be expedited.

The Lower Subansiri has received all necessary clearances. Work will begin from October. The Rs 6600 crore project will generate 2000 MW. The Teesta in Sikkim is racing ahead of time. It will generate 510 MW. The Loktak downstream project is a victim of poor law and order in the neighbourhood.

DoNER is releasing Rs 50 crore per year for infrastructure development in Mizoram. Rs 30 crore has been given for the development of the Bodo areas in Assam. Additional assistance of Rs 75.55 crore has been given to the region for critical transmission and sub-transmission systems. Rs 224.21 crore has been earmarked for new and existing National Highways.

The Centre is keen that the North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (NEIGRIMS) in Shillong be completed by this fiscal end.

BOOSTING IT

Heavy subsidy is on offer for joining the booming Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) bandwagon.  The DoNER considers the NE as the crèche for ITES manpower.  So, in association with the Department of Information Technology (DIT), it has taken up a special IT programme tailor made for the region and implemented initially through DOEACC centres in Guwahati, Tezpur, Imphal and Aizawl. Intake in each centre will be 80 students. And the course duration is two months.

Joint Secretary, DIT, Pankaj Agarwala, says the metros are unable to meet the growing demand for manpower. He is confident that the North-East will be able to bridge the demand-supply gap.

The course costs Rs 12,000. The DONER will bear Rs 9,000. It means the student will have to bring in Rs 3,000. Under this programme, students will be imparted training in development of skills in computing, such as domain knowledge in addition to inculcating soft skills like corporate culture, behavioural skills, CRM concepts, communication and call handling skills and English language accent orientation.

Agarwala said that NE boys and girls have an advantage in the ITES and that is their fluency   in English. The sector demands fluency in English.

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