Meghalaya makes representation before Parliamentary committee

Meghalaya Chief Secretary P B O Warjri today made a formal representation before the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Home Affairs led by its Chairman P Bhattacharya here today about the problems faced by the state and other northeastern states.
The meeting was convened by the PSC on Home Affairs with the officials of the state government and Northeastern Council on the commitment of the Centre to develop the Northeastern region and also to strengthen the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).
Apprising the PSC on the issue during the course of discussion, Warjri said all the Northeastern states, with the exception of Assam, does not have huge resources to sustain themselves, so suspension of subsidy has extensively affected the states of the Northeast.

He urged the committee to appraise the Centre of this problem and find ways to address it.
The Chief Secretary also pointed out that the Ministry of DoNER does not have technical support for developmental schemes which he felt is the reason for the delay in allocation of funds.
NEC secretary Ameising Luikham, said the Council has been involved in many big projects such as setting up of state-of- the-art infrastructures in Northeastern Police Academy, power projects, medical institutions and other projects.

The Committee assured the Chief Secretary that it will consider these issues and apprise the Central government of the problems that are being faced by the states of the Northeast and Meghalaya, in particular, an official release said.

The Committee also felt that suspension of subsidy should be reconsidered and resolve at the earliest.
On the issue of the role of the Ministry of DoNER, the Committee felt that the role of the ministry needs to be re- evaluated.
With regard to coal mining, the Committee is of view that coal mining needs to be regulated and that the state government should ensure that extraction of coal be done in a scientific and organised manner as coal is one of the revenue generated resources of the state, the release said.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee comprised of MPs S Banerjee, Ankit Bhatia, Chandrakant Khaire, Dilip Patel, Bheem Rao Patil, D K Mishra, Nagarajan P, Ramen Deka, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Selvakumara and Chinayan S.