Dimapur, June 23 (MExN): Leaders of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) have pointed out to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi that annual fund allocation to the North East has been stagnant at Rs 800 crore and appealed to him to institutionalise budgetary provisions so that 10% of the funds of the Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) is mandatorily deposited with the Ministry of DoNER.
A press note from the Nagaland CMO informed that this appeal was made in a memorandum jointly signed by Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang; Assam Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, Arunachal Chief Minister, Kalikho Pul, Assam Minister and Convenor of NEDA, Himanta Biswa Sarma; Meghalaya MP Lok Sabha and President of NPP, Conrad Sangma; Ex Chief Minister of Mizoram and President of MNF ZoramThanga; Assam Minister and AGP President Atul Bora; Working President of UDP and former Meghalaya Minister Paul Lygndoh, among others.
“What we require today is greater empowerment of the Ministry of DoNER and the NEC to serve as effective vehicle for transferring resources and capacities to the Northeastern States,” stated the memorandum.
It requested that annual fund allocation to the NEC be “substantially enhanced and mechanisms be created and systems put into place.”
In the recent past, it noted that the quantum of funds allocated to the Northeast under the NLCPR has been declining. At a time when the fund allocation to the Ministry of DoNER and the NEC should have increased with corresponding rise in cost index, it is ironic that it has stagnated, to the extent that it currently has only an annual allocation of about 800 crores, it said.
Lamenting that this has greatly impacted the growth of the states, the NEDA asked the PM for his personal intervention in this issue.
