Other than road construction, NEC supported the installation of 694.5 MW of power plants and construction of 10,341.63 circuit km of transmission and distribution lines 

 

 

IF ONE thought that North-East was all about security and development-deprived area, think again. For, in the past few years, the North-Eastern region is scripting a story of change as far as development is concerned. And, the North-Eastern Council (NEC) has played a major role in this story of positive change. Set up in 1972, the NEC is a statutory body that has undergone structural and mandate changes over the years and serves as a regional planning body for the entire North-Eastern region. According to K Moses Chalai, Secretary of the NEC, the Council has been instrumental in giving a boost to infrastructure development of the region.

 

With NEC funding, 11,432 km of roads have been constructed mainly in the hills when highway construction had not gained the present-day pace and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana was not there, he said. But, road construction in hilly areas is only one part of the contribution of the NEC to the development of the region. As per the official records, the NEC supported the installation of 694.5 MW of power plants and construction of 10,341.63 circuit km of transmission and distribution lines too.

 

The NEC had taken up 11 Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) projects, of which 10 have been completed and one is under construction in Meghalaya. Besides, three Inter-State Truck Terminus including two in Assam and one in Manipur have been completed, and two more -- one each in Nagaland and at Jirania in Tripura are under construction. As part of the fillip to transportation infrastructure in the region, the NEC has taken up improvement of the infrastructure at five major airports including Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Imphal, and Umroi. This has been taken up in collaboration with the Airport Authority of India (AAI) on 60:40 basis -- 60 per cent contribution by the NEC and 40 per cent by the AAI. Also, 60 per cent of the work for construction of a new airport in Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh has been completed with NEC funding. Though the NEC was a statutory body functioning since 1972, it assumed greater significance in development of the North-Eastern region since 2018. (To be continued)

 

 

 

SET up in 1972, the NEC is a statutory body under NEC Act, 1971 for rapid socio-economic development of North-Eastern region. It functioned as an advisory body till 2002, when an amendment in the Act mandated the NEC to function as a regional planning body for the region. While planning the regional projects, the NEC (Amendment) Act, 2002 mandated that the schemes and projects that benefited two or more States would be given priority. To give the development of the North-Eastern region further boost through regular monitoring of progress, vide a Gazette of India notification dated July 7, 2018, the Union Minister of Home Affairs was made ex-officio Chairman of the NEC. Currently, Amit Shah is the Union Minister of Home Affairs and ex-officio Chairman of the NEC.

 

As per the information shared by the NEC officials, through another notification dated August 24, 2021, the Union Minister of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER) was made the ex-officio Vice-Chairman of NEC. There are 16 ex-officio members of the Council including the Governors and Chief Ministers of the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura. Besides, there are three nominated members including Minister of State (DoNER), two full-time members nominated by President of India stationed in Shillong, and Secretary of DoNER.