“We have taken up the matter with Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who had in his budget speech (earlier this month) stressed on completion of the pending projects in the state. The state-level monitoring groups can be constituted on the lines of the PMG under the PMO,” Finer chairman R.S. Joshi told reporters here today.
The Centre had recently expanded the role of the project-monitoring group, led by an additional secretary, to speed up and ease project approvals. The group has been asked to follow up on the timeline it sets for different ministries and state governments to provide clearances.
Apart from mega projects such as Bogibeel bridge over the Brahmaputra, gas cracker project at Lepetkata in Dibrugarh, the Lumding-Silchar-Kumarghat rail line that connects Tripura and Assam, a number of road and rail projects are pending implementation.
The apex industry body of the region, Finer, had earlier this month met the Northeast MP’s Forum, a group of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs from the northeastern states, in New Delhi and highlighted key issues of the region.
“Apart from seeking extension of the Northeast Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, 2007, we have sought improvement and widening the scope of the policy, including service tax exemption and eligible services,” Joshi said.
“We also suggested the creation of an accelerated rail development fund for the Northeast so that railway projects could be taken to its logical conclusion,” he said.
The industry body and the MPs’ forum had six years back formed a joint support group to discuss issues that could be taken up by the parliamentarians at appropriate levels.
Some of the specific issues highlighted by Finer at the meeting of the joint support group were setting up of a Northeast economic zone, creation of an environment that woos foreign direct investment (FDI) to the region, establishment of institutions of excellence such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Indian Institute Management, among others.
The industry body also took up the issue of coal mining ban in Meghalaya. “The abrupt ban on coal mining has taken its toll on the economy of the region. So, we briefed the forum on how certain checks and balances could be made and norms set, instead of a total ban,” the Finer chairman said.
Source: The Telegraph
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