‘Centre examining NE special category status’

IANS Agartala, October 9 Central government’s finance ministry is examining the continuation of the special category status for the eight northeast states, a minister said here on Friday. Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh said the issue whether the eight northeast states will continue to get special category status “is being looked into by the union finance ministry”.“When and how the issue would be settled, I do not know,” he said. He said many states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, have been demanding for a special category status for additional funds from the central government. “This issue was also considered by the 14th finance commission. Also, there is a problem of fund crunch.” He said region is a priority area for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all ministers to visit the region repeatedly. During the governance of NDA government in the past 16 months, the space of development has been stepped up to a large extent,” he said.