Kohima, September 25 (MExN): The state Planning & Coordination Department held a review meeting of State Implementing Departments of schemes under the Ministry of DoNER at Hotel Japfu, Kohima on September 24, in the presence of Union Minister, DoNER, Tourism & Culture, G Kishan Reddy.
Acknowledging the DoNER Minister’s presence, Nagaland Minister for Planning & Coordination, Land Revenue and Parliamentary Affairs, Neiba Kronu noted that Reddy’s visit to the state “shows renewed focus on North East Region (NER),” a DIPR report stated. What was earlier called the ‘Look East Policy’ will now be ‘Act East Policy,’ he added.
As per the DIPR report, Kronu underscored that many SPA projects in Nagaland are pending as central funding has stopped. Stating that these projects need special attention and intervention from the Ministry, he urged the DoNER Minister to revive the Swadesh Darshan scheme in tourism sector, stating that the scheme was beneficial for many districts in Nagaland, and many districts are yet to avail its benefits. He also urged the DoNER Minister to revive the Tagore scheme as it would be beneficial for Nagaland in terms of promoting and preserving the state’s culture and traditions.
Joint Development Commissioner, Planning & Coordination, Augustine M Yanthan gave a presentation on the review of schemes and highlighted the support required from DoNER Ministry, the DIPR stated.
Meanwhile, Minister Reddy is said to have referred to the DoNER Ministry as a ‘coordinating agency’ and that its purpose was to coordinate all the schemes and projects of the Government of India and carry out its proper implementation in the North East Region.
He is also said to have assured that he would hold review meetings with all the Ministries and discuss the department-wise schemes, projects with the ministers and senior government officials of the Government of India. He also assured that he will review with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that the Prime Minister is very keen on developing the NER, to make sure that the schemes are implemented properly and to make sure that the NER is at par with the rest of the country, the DIPR report stated.
Reddy also said that “he wants to carry out regular persuasion of the major schemes, be it the railways, schools, hospitals, agriculture etc. of the NER. He also mentioned that out of Rs. 12,000 crore, Rs. 6,000 crore has been approved as Farmers’ Incentives for the NER, and expressed confidence that even in the days to come, more schemes, projects be made available for the NER,” the DIPR reported.
Additionally, the Minister is said to have underscored that the State Government needs to pay more attention to proper implementation of schemes, as it would pave the way for more projects to come up in the near future. He assured that more priority will be accorded to Nagaland for more schemes/projects, and that he will discuss the issues on the loopholes and the constraints faced by the State, and with work with commitment to bring more development to the region.
According to the DIPR, Joint Secretary for DoNER Anuradha Sharma said that, as pointed by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC), several Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) projects are pending in the State since 2007. She said that such pending projects would either need to be completed or closed down, as they would have lost the impact they had in 2007 and no sanctions would be made available if the State Government failed to comply with these guidelines.
Regarding NESIDS and NERSDS, though they are new schemes started in 2017, she requested that such projects should also be completed at the earliest. She said that DoNER with NITI Aayog has come up with NER District SDG Index Report, which is an important tool to check the status of each district, to check the gaps and work on that. Stating that Nagaland is ranked 21 among the 28 states, she expressed hope that the ranking would improve in the coming days, using this Index and Dashboard.
She also said that many Ministries are not able to use the 10 percent GBS because projects are not going from the State, and that any issues in this regard would be followed up. As per the DIPR, she also said that the 10 percent GBS has to be spent on the North East and cannot be diverted to any other parts of the country. The aim should be to persuade to get those funds so that the fund situation also eases and do not lapse, because in the event that it lapses, neither the DoNER nor the states gets it, she added.
During the interaction session of the review meeting, various implementing departments highlighted the achievements on their ongoing projects and also highlighted their grievances and seek support for implementing various projects, the DIPR stated.
