NEW DELHI, Jan 19 � In keeping with the direction of the Prime Minister, the tour schedule of several Union Ministers has been finalised by DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, whose ministry is acting as a nodal agency.
According to the schedule drawn up, in the second fortnight of January, Minister of Mines and Steel Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Law and Justice DV Sadananda Gowda, Minister of Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ram Kripal Yadav and Minister of State for Agriculture Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, are likely to tour the North-east.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar, Minister of Water Resources Uma Bharati, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot and Minister of Minority Affairs Dr Najma Heptulla will be requested to tour the NE during the first fortnight of February.
He further added that among the Ministers of State, Rao Inderjit Singh, Manoj Sinha and P Radhakrishnan, have been requested to undertake tours during the month of February.
Dr Singh informed that he himself would be travelling to one of the eight north eastern states at least once a month.
The tour schedule was finalised during a meeting attended by Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju and senior officers of the Ministry of DoNER.
According to advice from the Prime Minister�s Office, at least eight Union Ministers, including Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State with Independent Charge and Ministers of State will have to tour the North-east every fortnight.
These tour programmes, Dr Jitendra Singh said, had been planned on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is keen for a special focus on the North-east. During the tours the visiting minister will review the works related to his/her department and also participate in important events taking place in the region.
In order to ensure maximum utility of the tour by the Union Ministers, the North Eastern Council (NEC) will coordinate, while the DoNER Ministry will also fix responsibility of its officers stationed in Guwahati to maintain liaison with the visiting Ministers since Guwahati is the first airport at which dignitaries are expected to land for undertaking further tours in the region.
