IMPHAL, June 6 - The Modi Government has successfully transformed the North-east and retrieved the region from several decades of continuous neglect, within three years, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said today.
Addressing a public meeting to highlight the achievements of the three years of the Narendra Modi Government here, Singh said the development of the north-eastern region was put on fast-track so that it could grow at par with the rest of India. Effective and visible steps were taken to bridge the physical and psychological gap between the North-east and the other parts of the country, he said.
The DoNER Minister said each of the eight north-eastern States today can rightfully claim to be progressing and growing like any other state.
This itself was a huge physical as well as psychological redemption of what was left undone or half-done in the past, he said.
Singh said the extent of priority extended by the NDA Government to the North-east was borne out by the fact that in the last three years, the Prime Minister has made nearly a dozen visits to the region and he chose Guwahati to address a public rally to commemorate the three years of his Government on May 26.
Statistically, Singh said, the budget for the North-east received a hike of over 25 per cent in last three years. Over Rs 40,000 crore has been earmarked for road development.
A special road corporation namely the �Northeast Road Development Scheme� was launched to take care of the neglected roads of the region.
The Minister also referred to the announcement of launching, the first-of-its-kind the �Hill Area Development Programme� for the region yesterday from Imphal.
He said this programme would exclusively aim at addressing the geo-physical diversities of the region so as to ensure equitable growth of every district / area, which would finally make the north-eastern States capable of competing with the other states of the country at an equal level. � PTI
