The Centre should enhance fund allocations to the North Eastern Council (NEC), which is the nodal agency for economic and social development of the North Eastern region, Council secretary Ramnganing Muivah said today.
For a region which has a population of 40 million, equivalent to that of South Korea, allocation of a mere Rs 700 crore was like "tokenism," he said.
Muivah, who assumed office today, said chief ministers and Governors of all eight North Eastern states, who were members of the NEC, should jointly move the Centre for enhancement of funds.
Highlighting that there was huge need of funds for infrastructure development of the region, the NEC secretary said "they should enhance NEC's fund allocation."
Asked on the reasons for such low allocation, Muivah said "May be we are not able to convince the Centre to allocate more. Since beginning, the allocation has not crossed Rs 800 crore."
While assuring maximum utilisation of funds in the next seven months, he said "Our endeavour is to utilise properly and with transparency. By February we should be able to ask for additional funds."
Incidentally, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh were yet to submit proposals for the current fiscal, another NEC official J Lhungdim, the Planning Adviser, said.
All states have submitted proposals for schemes to be funded by the NEC, the official said adding, proposals from one of the states have crossed Rs 2,000 crore, while Manipur submitted a Rs 934 crore proposal.
Highlighting the infrastructure requirements in the region, the NEC secretary said there should be a four lane Highway connecting all state capitals in the region, a two lane Highway connecting district headquarters and railways, besides ensuring basic public amenities like drinking water, health and education.
