Centre sanctions Rs 3,417.68 crore for Northeast infrastructure in last 3 FY: Assam tops fund allocation under NESIDS

NEW DELHI: The ministry of development of north eastern region (MDoNER) on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha that Centre has sanctioned 90 projects costing Rs 3417.68cr under North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) since 2021-22 to the current financial year 2024-25. Majority of the funding had been for road projects and Assam has been the highest recipient of the funds.Sukanta Majumdar, minister of state, MDoNER in a written reply to queries from BJP MP Biplab Kumar Deb, stated that “The projects sanctioned under NESIDS are executed by the State Governments of North Eastern Region (NER) and the primary responsibility of monitoring of these projects lies with the concerned State Governments. The MDoNER also closely monitors the progress of the ongoing projects under NESIDS at different levels.”The ministry informed that officials from MDoNER and NEC regularly inspect selected projects. Field Technical Support Units (FTSUs), established in all eight NE states, interact with implementing agencies, maintain project databases on the Gati Shakti Portal, and conduct inspections.The NESIDS scheme includes two components: NESIDS (Roads), focused on roads/bridges and auxiliary infrastructure, and NESIDS (OTRI), covering infrastructure for healthcare, education, water supply, waste management, industrial development, sports, telecom, and more, for projects between Rs 5 crore and Rs 50 crore.Of the total fund, Assam has received Rs 1,392.43 crore of which Rs 848.69 crore are for roads, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (Rs 603.91 crore). A total of Rs 1813.99 crore has been granted for roads across the eight states of the region.