N-E ministry draws flak from House panel for ‘tardy development’

Maintaining that the North-Eastern states need special treatment because of their backwardness, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs

Maintaining that the North-Eastern states need special treatment because of their backwardness, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has sought early finalisation of a vision document for the region and suggested involving the departments of science and technology and biotechnology to boost development.

The committee, in its latest report on the Ministry of Development of the North-Eastern Region (DONER), has urged that these departments be included in the list of departments which mandatorily contribute 10 per cent of their grant budgetary support for the development of the region. The report also says that the committee wants to be informed immediately of the present status of “Vision Document 2020”.

Attempts to improve air connectivity in the region have also come in for criticism with the report noting that the ministry’s efforts were confined to making a couple of requests. The committee has also suggested that the ministry talk to the Civil Aviation Ministry for a pilot training institute at Lilabari.

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“The committee is not happy with the way the issue of air connectivity . “No road map has been prepared for achieving the targets,” the report says, referring to the ministry’s action taken reply on the matter. The ministry was advised to approach the Air Force for pilots and technicians till a permanent arrangement was in plhas been handled, particularly by the Planning Commission. It is surprising that the Planning Commission has taken more than five years to process the proposals for airports at Passighat and Teju in Arunachal Pradesh,” the report

observed.

Inadequate healtchare facilities also came under scrutiny with the committee taking strong note of the delay in acting on its recommedation for at least one medical college each in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.

The ministry also came in for criticism with the committee noting that the action taken replies on its report in August last year and minister’s report on the status of implementation of the recommendations in the report were “identical”. “If the statement of the minister laid after nearly four months of the action taken replies sent by the ministry to the secretariat is a mere reproduction of the ATR, it would defeat the spirit underlying the chairman’s direction,” said Sushma Swaraj, chairperson of the standing committee.