STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Union Minister of State (Independent) for Science and Technology, etc., Dr. Jitendra Singh, said that the recent development of Assam and the Northeast serves as a role model for many other states, playing an important role in the GDP growth of the country.
Launching a survey report, Purvodaya, on the development activities in the past nine years in the Northeast here today, the Union minister said, Despite an abundance of natural resources and being a potential powerhouse in the country, the region failed to grow the way it should have over the years. However, with the NDA at the helm of affairs, the scenario in the region changed totally. This is because Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally indulged in the development of the region."
Earlier, the state governments in the region had the mentality of showing problems with the slow implementation of developments despite the pumping of central funds. The previous regimes did not have the mentality of solving problems for the sake of carrying forward developmental work. We have changed the entire narrative. We are going ahead with developmental work by solving problems."
He said, "For the Modi Government, caste, creed, religion, and vote banks are not factors in developmental work." His motto for development is need-based. He provides what the situation demands. For instance, the Modi government constructed airports in Sikkim, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh that have only one or two MPs. For this government, the number of MPs is not the factor, but the necessity essentially is."
Singh said, "When we talk of statistics, the number of airports, railway stations, road connectivity, air connectivity, etc., has almost doubled in the Northeast in the past nine years. There was a time when people from the rest of India viewed people from the Northeast differently as the region had the tag of 'insurgency' etched on it. The narrative has totally changed now. Youths from the Northeast have glutted the entire hospitality sector in the entire nation now."
According to Singh, from 2009 to 2014, the average annual budgetary allocation in the railway sector for the Northeast was Rs 2,122 crore. "However, from 2014 to 2022, the average allocation in the region in this sector was Rs 9,970 crore," he said.
On national highway construction, according to him, the region witnessed the construction of 1,823 km from 2004 to 2013. On the contrary, from 2014 to 2022, the region witnessed the construction of 7,255 km of national highways, he said.
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