70th NEC Plenary meeting
HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Oct 8: The Centre has been working relentlessly to establish peace and stability, enhance connectivity in the Northeastern region and have attained considerable success as well, said Union minister for Development of North Eastern Region, Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy.
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Addressing the North Eastern Council (NEC)’s 70th Plenary meeting here on Saturday, Kishan Reddy highlighted several important issues critical to the growth and development of the region.
He said that it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strong belief that without development of the northeast region, India cannot develop.
He said that NER has entered its ‘Amrit Samay’ and “we need to take complete advantage of this and awaken all possibilities of growth and development”. The minister impressed upon the officers that the goal of making NER the growth engine of India can be reached only with complete coordination between the center and state governments.
He further added that all stakeholders, centre, states, and the private sector need to work jointly and focus on further enhancing infrastructure and connectivity in the region.
He further said that complete and targeted utilisation of the 10% GBS for the NER states is the key to rapid development. Regular analysis of 10% GBS utilisation needs to be done and accordingly reorienting of policies, overcoming data bottlenecks and striking coordination with central line ministries must be done, he added.
He also urged all state government officers to give their recommendations to ensure effective utilisation, such as amending policies, guidelines, etc.
The Union minister said that an Agri Task Force which was recently constituted shall soon release its final report, and reiterated that the task force findings must be leveraged to ensure complete utilisation in this financial year.
Reflecting on the tourism potentials of the region, the minister informed that the Ministry of DoNER is constituting a Tourism Task Force to ensure realisation of the complete potential of the region. He said that developing tourism infrastructure, skilling and capacity building are the core priorities for developing tourism in the region.
The minister further emphasised the need for private investment, and said that the central and state governments need to jointly work to develop an investment-friendly environment in the NER.
The minister said that a Global Investors Summit for NER should be organised soon and all state governments should start undertaking measures for developing an investor friendly ecosystem.
