The opposition Congress today termed the recently approved North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS) with an outlay of Rs 3,000 crore as a "cruel joke" and said the Centre downgraded the earlier policy to a scheme.
"The NEIDS is a shame and hoax in the name of industry promotion initiative. It is not even a policy. The Centre simply downgraded the earlier policy to a mere scheme. It is a cruel joke on North East," Congress Vice President (Assam Unit) Pradyut Bordoloi said at a press conference.
NEIDS, 2017 has been introduced by curtailing many of the elements and features of the earlier North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPP), 2007, he claimed.
Bordoloi, who was the industry minister in former chief minister Tarun Gogoi's government, also attacked the BJP for allocating the scheme only Rs 3,000 crore.
"In just one year of 2009-10, the total claim by the industries considering all benefits and subsidies offered under NEIIPP surpassed Rs 3,000 crore. And now the BJP is offering a scheme with just Rs 3,000 crore for four years," he added.
Bordoloi claimed that the NEIDS has excluded the services sector, which generates most employment in the region.
"From 2005 to 2016, the Congress government could create nearly five lakh direct jobs in the private and joint sectors. The credit goes to the benefits under NEIIPP. However, the new government does not even have a proper mechanism to count new jobs," he claimed.
The Congress leader warned that unless the BJP government considers the massive unemployment issue at the earliest, serious "social agitation" will take place in Assam.
In December 2014, the BJP-led Central government had suspended registration of all new schemes under the NEIIPP, which finally expired in March 2017.
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