DIMAPUR, MAY 29 (MExN): Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio used the platform of the National Development Council (NDC) to once again appeal to the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for implementation of the commitments made by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his visit to Nagaland in October, 2003. “However, in spite of the best efforts on the part of the State Government, they are yet to be sanctioned for implementation”, Rio reminded during his address at the 53rd Meeting of the NDC held today at New Delhi.
According to Rio, the non-Implementation of Prime Minister’s Package for Nagaland include the revival of Tuli Paper Mill; the four-laning of NH-39 from Dimapur to Kohima; creation of 25,000 employment opportunities for youths in Nagaland; upgradation of higher and school education for Science Education and facilities for girls in Mon and Tuensang districts; Regional Institute for Information Technology and extension of Railway Line from Dimapur to Kohima.
“I would request the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s intervention in expediting sanctions for the above projects, so that commitment made from the highest executive office of the country are given due importance and respect by all concerned”, Rio said.
Regarding the pattern of funding of various CSS schemes, Rio said that the State Government had all along been pleading that in respect of special category N.E. States, the pattern of all CSS schemes be standardized, and fixed at 90:10.
“The recent decision of the Government of India to fund one of its flagship scheme, SSA, on a 50:50 basis between the Central and the State Governments will spell doom for its implementation in the North East. All the Chief Ministers of the North East States had made a joint petition to make it 90:10, which had been strongly supported by the Ministry of DoNER”, Rio informed.
Rio also called for other corrective steps to be taken by the Government of India through the intervention of the NDC on other issues of policy affecting the NE States. In this regard, one of the point raised by the Chief Minister was the recent change in the pattern of raising loans for financing of development projects, whereby the States are required to raise the 10% loan component of schemes funded by NEC/NLCPR/CSS/NCA etc. Rio said that this was causing considerable problems and delays in implementation and completion of the projects and strongly pleaded for reversal to the earlier system, whereby, the 10% loan component was raised and passed on by the Central Government to the States.
Rio also raised the subject of the abnormally high transmission tariff of 35 paisa charged by PGCIL in the North East compared to about 11 paisa and lower in other parts of the country by the same Central.
“It is high time that this discriminatory transmission tariff be immediately rectified with retrospective effect by the Government of India and the problem not left to the regulatory mechanisms like the Central Electricity Regulatory Common (CERC) alone, as this is a matter of policy being wronged to the region”.
The Chief Minister also said that the State was “in broad agreement with most of the recommendations of the Sub-Committee of NDC on Agriculture and Related Issues”. Rio said that to rejuvenate the agriculture sector, it is necessary that all stake holders, including the farmers, the Central and State Governments and the Indian Industry should work together hand in hand. On marketing reforms & contract farming, Rio said the State was in agreement with the suggestion that the National and State Level Contract Farming Policies need to be framed early. “We also agree that contract farming is a better option than corporate farming to protect the interest of the farmers”, he said while adding that the State Governments need to be associated in all agricultural trade related policy matters, including matters relating to WTO.
Rio also highlighted on the Bamboo Mission taken up by the State both as a resource and an enterprise; converting the Bio-diversity of North East into economic benefits; removing bottlenecks in infrastructures – roads, railways & airports; Hydro- power development; Tourism & RAP/PAP; Industrialization, Trade and Look East Policy; Youth Empowerment and Employment; promotion of border trade and construction of roads in Border Areas.
.jpg)
