A Parliamentary panel has asked the government to review the functioning of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and ensure that it implements projects meant for the region in a time-bound manner.
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed M Venkaiah Naidu said it was the high time the government review the functioning of the Ministry and devise a mechanism to strengthen the Ministry of DoNER for its effective functioning so that projects meant for the region are completed on time.
The Committee, also took cognisance of the comments made by it in its 170th Report on demands for grants (2013-14) pertaining to Ministry of DoNER, on the dismal achievements of the Ministry.
While adopting the North-Eastern Council (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and recommending its early passage in Parliament, the panel said during the course of examination of the Bill, it took cognisance of the recommendations of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission regarding the abolition of the Ministry of DoNER and restoration of responsibility for Development of region to the concerned line Department or Ministry among others.
The Committee noted that the Government had not accepted the recommendation on the plea that the Ministry of DoNER provided undivided attention to development of North East. The government, however, decided that a review of functioning of NEC and DoNER could be undertaken to make these bodies more effective.
The NEC (Amendment) Bill seeks to provide for nomination of two non-official members by the President and one member of Planning Commission being in-charge of North Eastern Region as ex-officio; fixing the term of non-official members so nominated for three years extendable up to two years; restoring the original conflict resolution provision requiring the NEC to discuss matters of common interest to the region and make recommendations besides others.
