Nagaland CM calls for strategic policy vision for NE

Kohima: Nagaland chief minister TR Zeliang said the North Eastern Council (NEC) needs to promote research and innovation and provide a strategic policy vision for the region in order to help the member states in the planning and execution of projects.
Zeliang felt that the mandate of NEC needs to be expanded from being a regional planning body to that of a regional planning and development body.He was addressing the first meeting of the NEC Committee on Connectivity including Road and Highways, Airports and Air Connectivity, Railways and Inland waterways recently at Dimapur.
"To ensure success of the Prime Minister's vision to transform the NEC, there is an urgent need to augment its budgetary outlay and provide the required manpower with specialised knowledge and skills so as to enable it to make meaningful contributions to the development of North East Region," he said.
Zeliang said the Centre's Act East Policy has placed the region on the development map of the country. Further, he added that the Centre's flagship schemes like the National Road Development Programme, SARDP-NE, PMGSY, National Programme for Railways and Air Connectivity have provided new hope to the people of the region to develop and grow with the rest of the country.
The meeting was attended by MPs Ninong Ering, Gaurav Gogoi, and KG Kenye and Nagaland parliamentary secretary (planning) Neiba Kronu, secretary (DoNER) Naveen Verma, secretary (NEC) Ram Muivah, former chief secretary Nagaland Alemtemshi Jamir, former vice-chancellor of Ranchi University Darlando Khathing, Dean of JNU, New Delhi, Manoj Pant, Manipur University's Amar Yumnam, finance analyst Swapan Sarkar, officials from the NEC, officials from Airports Authority of India, the Centre and officials from the state planning department.