Of Ministry of Development of North-East Region

Under the aegis of Union Minister Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy and with round the clock support from MoS BL Verma, DoNER is committed to serving the North Eastern Region of the country addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modiji as 'Ashta Lakshmi', the eight forms of the goddess of wealth.

During their small tenure to date, both the Ministers held several rounds of talk with their counterparts from key Central Ministries viz., Home, Finance, Railway, Civil Aviation, Education, Agriculture, Telecommunications, Jalshakti, Health, NHAI, etc., to speed up the ongoing projects and to further discuss new projects/schemes so as to give an overall development and to generate employment opportunities for the people of NER. Rounds of discussion were also held with CMs of the NER States to coordinate with the projects being implemented in the States. These efforts are not only conveying a positive face of the Centre towards the NER but also bringing fruitful results, some of which are highlighted below:

• Home- Border area roads development– Fast Development under 10% GBS

• Railways- 122 Tunnels work in progress in NER. 27 completed.

• Telecommunication- 6,000 villages identified for cellphone connectivity in NER. Tendering action was completed for more than 5,000 villages. For balance villages tendering action is in progress.

• Civil Aviation- Small flights under UDAN to NER have been introduced and some new routes under UDAN are to be considered.

• Tourism- Secretary, Tourism held meetings with Film Industries, Mumbai to explore the possibility of NER as film shoots. Identification of 100 viewing points to be developed in NER in consultation with DoNER.

• Health- AIIMS Guwahati work in progress.

• Oil Palm- Out of Rs 12,000 crore, Rs, 6000 crores allocated to NER.

• Visit of Union Ministers to NER- frequency increased.

As a result, there is a considerable transformation in the working of the Ministry and its organizations, which clearly reflects in their achievements as highlighted below:

MDONER in collaboration with NITI Aayog releases North Eastern Region District SDG Index and Dashboard 2021-22: With technical support from UNDP, first of its kind in the country as it focuses on the North Eastern Region. The index measures the performance of the district of the eight NE States. The National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) is a new centrally-sponsored scheme with a special focus on NE Region and A&N Islands. An MoU for the Bamboo FPO Agreement on Edible Oils – Oil Palm for the NE States has been signed. The aim of the Mission on edible oils is to increase the cultivation of oil palm from 3.5 lakh Ha to 10 lakh Ha across India in the next five years. 50% of the new cultivation is targeted for NE Region. Out of the estimated cost of the scheme of Rs 11,040 crore, about Rs, 6,000 crores will directly benefit the farmers of NE States.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister has approved a revival package of Rs 77.45 crore for the revival of NERAMAC. The revival package will help NERAMAC to implement various innovative plans namely providing better farming facilities, training to farmers in the cluster, organic seeds and fertilizers etc and will generate direct or indirect employment for about 33,000 persons.

COVID related infrastructure:

• Oxygen Plant was set up in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh with financial support provided by MDoNER.

• COVID relief container having 10,710 family health and hygiene kits, 10 oxygen concentrators, 3 portable health devices for 3 district hospitals, oxymeters, medicine kit and 3 telephonic medical consultation devices was sent to designated places in the State of Nagaland.

• Rs 250 crore sanctioned by MDoNER for healthcare facilities to fight COVID-19 in the NE States.

Monitoring and Geo-Tagging of projects in NE Region: Initial stage of development of project monitoring mechanism along with its Geotagging in NE region being funded by DoNER/NEC. This is the first of its kind in the whole country where there is an institutionalized involvement of ISRO in mapping and sharing of data for development projects.

Focused Development of Backward Blocks and villages in the North Eastern Region: 40 backward blocks identified in 20 districts across the 8 NE states have been identified for launching a special time-bound programme for focused development. 40 villages have also been identified to start a pilot project for providing services uniformly to the villagers for their decent living.

DoNER inaugurated the Bamboo Treatment Plant with the latest technology in the premises of North East Cane and Bamboo Development Council (NECBDC), Burnham, Guwahati.

North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS)

Since 01.01.2021, 30 projects worth Rs 413.63 crore have been sanctioned in the various North Eastern States under the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS), which include 17 health projects worth Rs 231.19 crore sanctioned for strengthening the health infrastructure of NE States and combating an outbreak of COVID-19.

North Eastern Council

Schemes of NEC: During 2021 (01.01.2021- 30.11. 2021), 70 projects costing Rs.289.38 crore were sanctioned. During the period, 73 projects amounting to Rs 1257.68 crore were completed/closed. (PIB)