North East MPs' Memo to PM
'DoNER should be further empowered':
New Delhi: The North East MPs forum has urged the Prime Minister to make the DoNER Ministry a full fledged one with more powers and budget instead of abolishing it altogether as suggested by the Administrative Reforms Commission recently.
"While opposing the recommendations of the Commission, we also strongly urge upon your good office to upgrade the Ministry of DoNER to a full fledged Ministry with all powers vested in it and with adequate financial and coordinating powers for the development of the North Eastern Region", the MPs who met Dr Manmohan Singh on Thursday night said, adding that the entire fund accumulated in the consolidated fund of India, as accruals in the NLCPR should be kept at the disposal of the Ministry of DONER so that it could exclusively play the role of a nodal Ministry for planning and all round development of the Region.
"The Ministry of DoNER has so far only been distributing the Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) funds placed with them by the Finance Ministry every year. This was not the vision of the Central Government when the Ministry was formed," the Forum said in a memorandum to the Prime Minister.
The seventh report of the ARC, headed by Mr Veerappa Moily, had recently recommended that the "DoNER Ministry may be abolished and the responsibility for the development of the region including infrastructure development and utilization of the non-lapsable funds should be restored to the concerned ministries, with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) acting as the nodal agency".
Such a recommendation without going into the ground realities obtaining in the region and the true spirit behind the creation of a separate Ministry for it has created serious misgivings and grave doubts about the sincerity of the present Government towards the North Eastern region, they said. The Chief Ministers of the North East will also be protesting to the Centre against the ARC recommendation.
The Forum also said that the implementation of NEC projects in the 11th Plan has suffered greatly due to its inability to clear past liabilities amounting to Rs. 2203 crore and because of which the NEC has been asked to stop taking up new projects. This will not only limit the role of NEC as a regional planning body but would make the vision document 2020 a meaningless exercise.
Source: The Shillong Times
New Delhi: The North East MPs forum has urged the Prime Minister to make the DoNER Ministry a full fledged one with more powers and budget instead of abolishing it altogether as suggested by the Administrative Reforms Commission recently.
"While opposing the recommendations of the Commission, we also strongly urge upon your good office to upgrade the Ministry of DoNER to a full fledged Ministry with all powers vested in it and with adequate financial and coordinating powers for the development of the North Eastern Region", the MPs who met Dr Manmohan Singh on Thursday night said, adding that the entire fund accumulated in the consolidated fund of India, as accruals in the NLCPR should be kept at the disposal of the Ministry of DONER so that it could exclusively play the role of a nodal Ministry for planning and all round development of the Region.
"The Ministry of DoNER has so far only been distributing the Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) funds placed with them by the Finance Ministry every year. This was not the vision of the Central Government when the Ministry was formed," the Forum said in a memorandum to the Prime Minister.
The seventh report of the ARC, headed by Mr Veerappa Moily, had recently recommended that the "DoNER Ministry may be abolished and the responsibility for the development of the region including infrastructure development and utilization of the non-lapsable funds should be restored to the concerned ministries, with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) acting as the nodal agency".
Such a recommendation without going into the ground realities obtaining in the region and the true spirit behind the creation of a separate Ministry for it has created serious misgivings and grave doubts about the sincerity of the present Government towards the North Eastern region, they said. The Chief Ministers of the North East will also be protesting to the Centre against the ARC recommendation.
The Forum also said that the implementation of NEC projects in the 11th Plan has suffered greatly due to its inability to clear past liabilities amounting to Rs. 2203 crore and because of which the NEC has been asked to stop taking up new projects. This will not only limit the role of NEC as a regional planning body but would make the vision document 2020 a meaningless exercise.
Source: The Shillong Times