Union Ministers meet Northeast CMs through Video Conference

GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today attended the Video Conference of Union Minister for DoNER G Kishan Reddy and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar with Chief Ministers of North Eastern States on various agriculture and horticulture related issues in NE Region with prime focus on National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP). Several other matters related to this sector including Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Regions (MOVCDNER), National Bamboo Mission (NBM), Sustainable Development Goals and their target indexes for North Eastern states etc., were also discussed during this conference.

The Union Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval to launch a new Mission on Oil palm named as National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) as a new centrally-sponsored scheme with special focus on the Northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The scheme with a pegged outlay of Rs 11,040 crore has been formulated to provide a boost to palm oil production in the country and reduce dependence on edible oil imports. Out of its total financial outlay, the North Eastern Region alone gets target of Rs 5850 crore which can bring a revolution on this sector to this region.

Speaking in the virtual meet, Chief Minister Sarma apprised the Union ministers that at present Assam has 350 hectares of oil palm cultivation covering Goalpara, Bongaigaon and Kamrup (R) districts. The Assam government is very much enthusiastic for attaining maximum benefit from this ambitious mission and it will submit its detailed proposal to the Central Government within next week, he added, a press release said.

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