Chief Ministers of the North Eastern region, T R Zeliang and Manik Sarkar, today criticised the central government for abolishing the Planning Commission and forming NITI Aayog .
"All the North Eastern states are facing problems of money after abolishing of the Planning Commission and forming NITI Aayog," Zeliang, Chief Minister of Nagaland, said.
"Every state is now losing money because it is not clear how the plans would be finalised and implemented. All the states in the region were facing crisis of funds in implementing projects," he said.
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During the time of the Planning Commission, there was a scope for discussion between the state government and the Commission for finalising the plan outlay, but this scope has faded away, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said.
"For the last 28 months after NITI Aayog was formed, there has been no discussion between it and Tripura government regarding planning," Sarkar said, adding Tripura was losing over Rs 1800 crore per year after formation of the Aayog.
Zeliang and Sarkar were addressing a three-day business summit, jointly organised by FICOS and the Tripura government, on connectivity of the North-East and opportunities in international trade and commerce.
Zeliang said, "It is the need of the hour to convert the Act-East policy into a reality so that people of the region get its benefits. It is necessary to build up infrastructure for implementation of the policy. Connectivity with the neighbouring countries is an important point for its implementation."
Sarkar said the central government should pay more attention to build infrastructure like roads, railway, air telecommunication without which the Act-East policy would be of no meaning.
Representatives from Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the North-East states participated in the summit which will be concluded tomorrow.
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