DoNER Ministry acting contrary to its mandate says Gogoi

PTI
GUWAHATI, NOVEMBER 18

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today urged the DoNER ministry to publish a ‘white paper’ giving details of the funds it has released over the last 18 months for the development of the North East. “Since the DoNER Ministry has come into being, the North East has not been subjected to such a shoddy treatment like the one meted out to the region by the present dispensation at the Centre,” Gogoi said in a statement here.
The chief minister said the Centre had withdrawn the ‘special category status’ for the North East, serving a severe blow to the development momentum of the region.
“Inflicting yet another blow to the North East, the BJP-led NDA Government has suspended the North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, thereby discouraging flow of investment and industrialisation in the region,” Gogoi said.
“DoNER ministry was created to give a fillip to the growth and development of the North East. The Centre’s decision to withdraw the Special Category Status has not only put a spanner on the flow of financial packages but slowed the pace of development of the region,” Gogoi said.
“When the Centre has not released flood management fund to Assam, the state’s share of oil royalty has been put on halt. Why the DoNER ministry which has been mandated to see the matters related to the socio-economic development of the North East is maintaining a stoic silence,” he wondered.
The DoNER minister’s frequent visit to the North East should translate into a corresponding fund flow to put the region into growth trajectory, Gogoi said.
The DoNER ministry by giving a detailed account of the fund released for the North East in the last 18 months in a ‘White Paper’ would add credibility to the statements of the minister concerned, he said.