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DoNER undertakes studies for development of NE

By SPL. CORRESPOINDENT

NEW DELHI, Aug 1 - Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has through the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd (NEDFi), undertaken techno-economic studies and resources mapping for the development of industries in the North- eastern region.

The areas, so far covered in the study include inter-alia, medicinal and aromatic plants, agriculture, livestock and poultry development, tourism, software development, hand-loom and handicrafts and food processing, said Minister of State DoNER, Dr Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Dr Sanjay Singh in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The Government has taken several initiatives for development of industries in the Northeastern region. Policies and programmes are directed towards development of infrastructure, entrepreneurship skills, markets and providing flow of credits to the entrepreneurs. The orientations of the programmes are focussed to a large extent on cluster-based approach to industry, industries based on local resources within the region, and encouraging the industries in the medium and small-scale sectors, he said.

The focus of the Government has been to upgrade the infrastructure in the NE. Government has taken up several projects for improvement in road, rail, air, communication, waterways and telecom network in the region. Addressing connectivity issues assumed a new seriousness. Government has set up National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) in 2014, which is now fast tracking road building activity. NHIDCL has also undertaken upgradation of neglected, but critical inter-State roads, a new scheme launched by DoNER.

The North East is now better connected with broad gauging of the major rail networks in the entire region, the last being from Silchar to Agartala. Heavy investment has been made in power transmission with two projects covering all the eight States sanctioned a total cost of Rs 9,865 crore in order to reach power to more areas. The Comprehensive Tele-com Development Plan with a budget of Rs 5,336 crore has enabled better mobile connectivity with new nodes at district, block and gram panchayat levels, he also said.

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