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The Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Prime Ministers Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh releasing the NEC Coffee Table Book, 2016 North Eastern Council: A Story of Sagacity and Success, in New Delhi on September 21, 2016.[/caption]
Dimapur, September 24 : The north east region has seen strides in development over the past two years amid the bustle over the central government’s ‘Act East’ policy. The trajectory of that push can draw allegory to the fact that two towns from the region have found a place among the center’s recently-released list of Smart Cities, the minister for DoNER has implied.
Dr Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, addressed an event in New Delhi that commemorated the region. He released the first-ever Coffee Table Book on Northeast that was published by the North Eastern Council (NEC).
The offbeat publication was released during a ceremony in New Delhi on September 21.
The hard-cover Coffee Table book, consisting of 180 pages, is mainly a pictorial and visual depiction of the various facets of northeast region. It has messages from the president of India, prime minister and DoNER minister, in his capacity as chairman of the council, as well as from the governors and chief ministers of the eight sister states of the region.
Speaking during the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said that development activity in the north-eastern region during the past two years has made rapid strides, primarily because of the personal interest and high priority accorded to the region by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is evident from the fact that no prime minister had attended a plenary meeting of the NEC at its headquarters in Shillong in the last 40 years before Modi addressed the 65th Plenary Session of the NEC on 27th May this year, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that in order to make India’s “Act East Policy” more effective and fruitful, ‘We will also have to strengthen and reinforce our resources proximal to the eastern borders.’
In this regard, he referred to the currently under construction rail-link to Bangladesh from Tripura, which is being funded by the Ministry of DoNER on the Indian side from Agartala to Akhaura.
The Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh accomplished by the present government is also something which could not be achieved in the last 45 years since the Independence of Bangladesh, said Dr Jitendra Singh.
By doing so, he said, there was not only ease of travel on the eastern borders, but also benefit from bilateral trade and business.
Dr Singh also disclosed that beginning October 3, 2016, two new flights will be introduced between Guwahati and Aizawl, and Guwahati and Silchar. This, he said, will be in addition to the first-ever flight from New Delhi to Dimapur in Nagaland started from April 1, 2015 and later, the first-ever direct flight to Aizawl, also started by the present government.
While Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya emerged on the Rail map of India for the first time, Dr Jitendra Singh said, most of the north-eastern states will get a broad-gauge rail track in the next few years, while Sikkim has achieved the distinction of becoming India’s first “organic state” and also the first state with 100 percent sanitation coverage.
Also, he expressed satisfaction that in the Smart City list released yesterday by Union Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu, two cities from the northeast, namely Kohima in Nagaland and Namchi in Sikkim, also found a place. He hoped that the ‘unique distinctions achieved’ by the northeast in the last two years will be showcased for ‘wider awareness and publicity through the Coffee Table book.’
Among those present during the occasion were members of Parliament Ramen Deka and Jitendra Choudhary, secretary for DoNER Naveen Verma, member of NEC CK Das, secretary for NEC Ram Muivah, and joint secretaries and senior officers of Union Ministry of DoNER and the NEC.