Nagaland MP KG Kenye urges Centre to revisit North-Eastern Council

Dimapur, March 15 (EMN): Nagaland’s lone Rajya Sabha MP, KG Kenye urged the Central government during the ongoing Parliament session to relook and revisit the original intent and objectives of setting up the North-Eastern Council (NEC) through an enactment by the Parliament in 1972.

“North East region is a very strategic region geo-politically surrounded by 5 countries and so the vulnerability and sensitive issues are connected to the people of this region,” read Kenye’s statement issued by his PRO.

He stated that there’s a reason why the council has the governors and chief ministers of the eight states as members with the governors taking turns as its chairman.

“So all the needs and requirement of the indigenous people in that region were brought to this council deliberated, considered and they were taken up on priority of the scheme/project to be implemented in the various States of this region of this state. This is because they are there in the region and they feel the pulses of the people of their respective States.

“They understand the sentiment and the emotion and they also understand the basic requirement of the people of this Region. They were the best representatives to represent the States and act as the Member in this regional planning council. That was the reason why the NEC came into being. After about two and half decades it was branched out a department of DoNER under the ministry of Home Affairs. And this became the administrative unit monitoring the affairs of the NEC,” he stated.

Maintaining that the NEC and the Ministry of DoNER overlap in their administrative and financial power, the MP requested the Centre to review the working system of the council to make it more effective and ensure that the benefits go to the deserving people.

“The NEC should not be sidelined. It is a very important regional planning body being represented by the most honourable people in the region, so due acknowledgement should be given to them and they have to be infused with the fund and resources that have been pooled from these ministries. If the planning execution and the selection schemes/projects are taken up and decided by this regional Planning Council, it will cover 99% of the loopholes that this fund are facing today,” Kenye was quoted as saying.

He went on to state that Non-lapsable Central Pool Resources (NLCPR) committee had been constituted to decide the allotment of projects and funds, as well as advises the Minister of DoNER. Maintaining that allowing a committee functioning in Delhi to decide the fate of the people of the region isn’t right, he requested “the Chairman of Rajya Sabha to advise the DoNER Ministry to review its system of functioning”.

The MP went on to state that the NLCPR committee consisting of few bureaucrats has taken the role of NEC, which has the governors and chief ministers as members; decides the size of plan, choose schemes and make policy roadmap.

“NEC is a constitutionally enacted Statutory Planning Body whereas NLCPR is just an arrangement of DoNER Ministry. They cannot overshadow the performance of the NEC who knows what they are doing and for what funds were there,” he stated.