GUWAHATI, May 26 � Former State Industry Minister Pradyut Bordoloi today charged the Narendra Modi-led Union government with playing politics of vengeance by depriving Assam and the other north-eastern states of the benefits given by the previous Union government including �Special Category States status.�
Addressing the media here, the Margherita MLA said that the inaugural ceremony of the Mega Food Park at Tihu in Nalbari, slated for May 28, was a face-saving exercise of the Union government, which was criticised for cancelling the permission for a food park at Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
�Central Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal along with other Union ministers including Kiren Rijiju and Sarbananda Sonowal, will be coming for the inaugural ceremony of the project that has been created with funding from the UPA government and support from the Congress-led government in Assam,� he said.
The Northeast Mega Food Park is the first food park of the eight states of the region. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been created for the project. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 100 crore.
�Whereas the Union government is using this project to promote its goodwill towards Assam and the NE, in reality several recent moves of the government snatched away the Central support from the region,� he said.
Bordoloi hit out at the Union government for curtailing the benefits under the Special Category States status, as part of which 90 per cent grant was given by the Centre and the states contributed10 per cent funding of the projects. �Now, on the plea of the 14th Finance Commission�s recommendations, the special Plan assistance is also being stopped,� he said, alleging that in the name of a level playing field, the backward states were being made to languish.
Citing the closure of the North East Industrial Investment and Promotion Policy (NEIIP) 2009 as a major setback for Assam, Bordoloi said a total of 567 big and small industries including the gas cracker project in Dibrugarh were established with support of this policy, bringing an investment of Rs 12,780 crore into the State since 2007.
�Similarly, the Assistance to States for Development of Export Infrastructure and Other Allied Activities (ASIDE) scheme that gave us the Maniram Dewan Trade Centre, EPIP at Amingaon, logistic hub in the BTC, air cargo complex at Borjhar and Integrated Tea Park in Chhaygaon, has also been withdrawn from April this year. Withdrawal of the National Mission on Food Processing from April 2015 has brought about an uncertain future for more than 100 food processing units in the State,� he added.
