Planning & Coordination Department held a review meeting of State Implementing Departments of schemes under the Ministry of DoNER at Hotel Japfu, Kohima on 24th September 2021, in the presence of Union Minister, DoNER, Tourism & Culture, G. Kishan Reddy.
Minister, Planning & Coordination, Land Revenue and Parliamentary Affairs, Neiba Kronu, addressing the meeting, said that the DoNER Minister visiting Nagaland shows renewed focus on North East Region (NER), adding that earlier, it was ‘Look East Policy’ but now it will be ‘Act East Policy.’
Kronu stated that many SPA projects in Nagaland are pending as central funding has stopped, adding that these projects needs special attention and intervention from the Ministry. He urged the DoNER Minister to revive the Swadesh Darshan scheme in tourism sector as this scheme was beneficial for many districts in Nagaland, and many districts are yet to avail this schemes. He also urged the DoNER Minister to revive the Tagore scheme as such scheme will be beneficial for Nagaland to promote and preserve our culture and traditions.
Joint Development Commissioner, Planning & Coordination, Augustine M Yanthan presented a power point presentation on the review of schemes and support required from Ministry of DoNER.
Union Minister, DoNER, G. Kishan Reddy said that DoNER Ministry is a coordinating agency and its purpose of to coordinate all the schemes/projects of the Government of India and carry out its proper implementation in the NER.
Minister Kishan Reddy assured that he will hold review meetings with all the Ministries and discuss the schemes, projects with the Ministers, Senior Government officials of the Government of India, department wise. 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. He 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.
Minister Reddy cautioned that the State Government needs to pay more attention to proper implementation of schemes, as this will 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 NER, and to fulfill the expectations of the people of NER.
Joint Secretary, DoNER, Government of India, Anuradha Sharma said that, as pointed by EFC, NLCPR projects are pending in the State since 2007, and such pending projects either needs to be completed or closed down, as these projects would have lost the impact they had in 2007, and no sanctions would be made available if the State Government fails 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. Nagaland is ranked 21 among the 28 states, and she expressed hope that the ranking 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 in this regard, if there are any issues, it could be followed up, why projects from the North East are not getting approved and why the Ministries are not able to spend the 10 percent GBS. This money has to be spent on the North East, it 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 gets it, nor the states gets it, adding that it is the right of the NER states to get the fund.
The review meeting was chaired by Chief Secretary, Nagaland, J. Alam IAS who also delivered the welcome address. Vote of thanks was proposed by Commissioner & Secretary, Planning & Coordination, Imokaba Jamir IRS. Advisor K. T. Sukhalu, AHoDs and HoDs of all implementing departments, and a host of senior government officials also attended the review meeting. During the interaction session, various implementing departments highlighted the achievements on their ongoing projects and also highlighted their grievances and seek support for implementing various projects.
(Mhonlumi & Esuihangle)
