AGARTALA:
Tripura
chief minister
Manik Sarkar has proposed a three-year regional plan for the northeast to identify and assess the burning problems of the region.
Speaking at the 66th meeting of
Northeast Council
(NEC) in New Delhi on Monday, Sarkar stressed on the need of giving more emphasis on preparing suitable strategies to overcome infrastructural and communication bottlenecks. He said connectivity through road, rail, air and telecommunication are posing hurdles in both economic and social development of the region. He added that the potential of power generation, transmission and distribution has not been fully harnessed yet and this is where the
NEC
could play a big role.
The credit-deposit ratio in the region is low compared to other regions of the country though peace has been restored after a long fight, he said. He said, "The Centre is focussing on the Look East Policy for which basic infrastructure needs to be developed."
Sarkar said the NEC has proposed an outlay of Rs 925 crore for 2017-18 FY which is too less to take care of the incomplete projects. "Consequent to the abolition of the Planning Commission and discontinuation of Special Plan Assistance to special category states, the role of NEC as a medium of restoring regional balance becomes very important," he added.
In order to address the problem of regional disparity, the NEC should be adequately funded and its budget during 2017-18 should be substantially enhanced to at least partly compensate for the discontinuation of Special Plan Assistance that was provided through the Planning Commission, said the chief minister.