Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has recommended in principle one project for the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), Assam, worth Rs 25 crore, and the decision on four other projects will be taken in the next meeting. The four proposed projects are worth Rs 160.89 crore. Of the four projects, three relate to BTC, and the fourth project is under the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC).
Recently, a meeting of the Empowered Inter-Ministerial Committee (EIMC) of Special Development Packages (SDP) was held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of the Secretary of DoNER, with the attendance of representatives of the Assam government, NITI Aayog, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of Textile, Ministry of Rural Development, among others. The decision on the projects was taken at the EIMC meeting.
According to an office memorandum issued by DoNER on November 9, 2024, the project for construction of an Institute of Livelihood Management at Tangla in the Udalguri District of Assam with an estimated cost of Rs. 25 crore was recommended in principle. During the meeting, the EIMC noted that the comments of line ministries should be considered at the time of preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR). At that time, the NITI Aayog gave its nod for the project.
Moreover, it emerged during the discussion at the meeting that the four other proposed projects would be taken up in the next EIMC meeting. The projects are: Construction of Hotel & Tourism Management Institute at Chirang, BTR with an estimated cost of Rs.50 crore; Training, production and marketing centre for Handloom & Textile products at Haltugaon in the Kokrajhar District worth Rs.29.32 crore; Training, production, and marketing centre for Handloom & Textile products at Udhiyaguri in Baksa District costing Rs. 27.57 crore; and Construction of a road from the 5th Km of the DLHS road to Langkaijan at an estimated cost of Rs. 54 crore.
The fourth project on the construction of a road is under the KAATC.
It is to be noted that funds for SDPs are provided by DoNER only for the Sixth Schedule Councils in Assam. It was stated that the SDP projects are taken on the basis of the Memorandum of Settlement signed by the Government of India with the State Government and the respective territorial council.
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