Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Tuki advocates Regional Council for NE

By Correspondent

ITANAGAR, Feb 9 � Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has advocated for a Regional Council for North- eastern region chaired by the Prime Minister with a co-chair on annual rotation basis amongst the eight NE States. He was taking part in the maiden meeting of the governing council of NITI Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi yesterday.

In support of his submission, Tuki reasoned that the NE have low resource base, low population and had been a late starter in the journey of development. He further gave an alternative suggestion for formation of a Hill States Council (HSC) or Himalayan States Council (HSC) owing to similar strengths and challenges of these small States.

Completely agreeing with the idea of a mid-term assessment of targets and achievements of the 12th Five Year Plan, Tuki suggested for rigorous joint review exercise with an aim to remove bottlenecks impeding the achievement of targets. �NITI Aayog must continue to play the role of fund allocation to the States, especially to the special category states,� the Chief Minister said and further opined that the funds allocated to the States must be untied but tied to the broad sectors as per local requirements within the sectors.

He reiterated the plea for exempting the mandatory 10 per cent State share for special category States like Arunachal Pradesh which is fully dependent on Central funds while, suggesting for minimising the number of Centrally Sponsored Schemes to broad sectoral priorities with fund transfers in untied form.

Tuki requested the NITI Aayog to consider the recommendations of BK Chaturvedi Committee that had undertaken a study relating to the development disability of the Special Category States and recommended removing bottlenecks on the process issues of the region and also provide fiscal compensation of 2 per cent of the GBS for the remaining years of the 12th Plan to these States.

Besides giving a brief highlight on the activities undertaken by his government with special mention to preparation of Vision 2030, Tuki requested NITI Aayog to consider Arunachal Pradesh on grounds of border management by developing border areas to stop depopulation of border areas, to harness hydropower and mineral potential of the State, and to provide a special package for the vast forest cover, which is providing huge ecological services to the country and the world, the communique added.

Next Story