Two months after ‘Niti-Aayog’ constituted North-East Niti-Forum, it held its first meeting here on Tuesday with a big bang announcement that all State Capitals in the region would be linked with air.
It was also decided that showrooms called “Ashtshidhis” showcasing NE will be established in around 350 districts of the country. On the occasion, Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh hoped that soon a broad-gauge railway line would connect Tripura with Bangladesh.
The meeting decided that bottlenecks would be identified and projects monitored and delivered in time-bound manner and highways, e-ways and railway network expanded in eight States. The vice-chairman of Niti-Aayog, Rajiv Kumar, who along with the DoNER Minister and Chief Ministers of Tripura, Nagaland, and Assam, inaugurated the meet, said NE forum is part of Prime Minister Narendra Midi’s vision to establish regional councils across the country to develop each State in an integrated way.
Kumar said the NE forum would go beyond routine and come up with fresh idea which would be implemented with active backing of Niti-Aayog.
“We will have a dedicated unit within AAYOG to monitor and take action towards implementation of projects in the NE,” he said.
Kumar said Aayog will work with DoNER and all others Central Ministries to remove constraints in time-bound manner for speedy and wholesome- political, strategic, economic- progress of all states in the region.
Singh said Railway line from Tripura’s Badharghat to Gangasagar in Bangladesh would be completed in about 8 months’ time.
Kumar who is also chairman of NE forum said 50,000 Government employees of NE would be trained in digital transactions.
The ‘NITI Forum for North East’ was constituted in February 2018 with an aim to ensure sustainable economic growth of the North Eastern Region of the country and periodically review the development status in NER. The secretariat for the forum has been established in the DoNER Ministry.
The forum includes representation from all NE States, their Chief Secretaries and Secretaries of relevant Central Ministries/Departments, Directors of reputed institutions (IIT, IIM etc), experts and journalists have been included as members.