Pema Khandu meets with NEC Secretary, Ram Muivah
Itanagar
Chief Minister Pema Khandu today had a meeting with North Eastern Council (NEC) Secretary, Ram Muivah to discuss on pressing issues regarding the council that require urgent attention.
The Chief Minister expressed concern over meagre allocation to the organisation noting that the trend of receiving less allocation will make NEC fall short of serving any purpose. The NEC allocation substantially decreased from 9th Five Year Plan onwards and since then has remained stagnant.
Pointing out the large gap arising due to meagre resources made available with that of the aspiration of the constituent states, the Chief Minister informed that demand for funds from constituent states each year has increased that stood at an average of Rs 4800 Crs annually. He pointed out the need for raise in resource allocation for core areas and for the large projects with inter-state regional character, which is the mandate of NEC.
The Chief Minister further raised concern over declining allocation through pool of non-lapsable funds, NLCPR. He said at least 10% of the budget of the central ministries is to be marked for the North Eastern states. He pointed that over Rs 15,000 Crs of NLCPR funds have accumulated over the years and with the decline in allocation, the development of North East has greatly impacted.
The Chief Minister also called for strengthening in functioning of NEC secretariat and incentives attached to the posts in NEC to attract more officers to serve on deputation.
