TRIPURA CM AT NEC MEET

 Regional Planning Must Pay Heed To Priorities

Below we reproduce excerpts from the given by Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar at the 48th meeting of North Eastern Council (NEC), held at Gangtok on September 11, 2003. Subheadings have been added.

IT is indeed a matter of great pleasure for me to welcome the state of Sikkim as the new member of NEC at the 48th council meeting here at Gangtok. The induction of Sikkim would definitely enrich the north east.

We have come a long way since the year 1972 when North Eastern Council was set up by an act of parliament. The amendment of NEC act in December 2002 calls for a paradigm shift in the role of NEC from that of an advisory body to a regional planning body. This was a long felt demand of this region and the NEC now has to play a far more active role to fulfil the cherished dream of this region.

Institutional strengthening of NEC would be required for this purpose. Eminent planners, economists, heads of financial institutions may be inducted at appropriate level of NEC to instil professionalism.

BASIC IMPERATIVES

The regional policy should be prepared keeping in view the priorities and policies of the member states in the concerned sector so that the interest and autonomy of individual member states are not affected.

The main thrust of NEC in its new role shall be to help upgrade the quality as well as standard of living of the people of this region. Policy decisions shall have to be directed towards elevation of families from BPL to APL. To achieve this, what we need today is to make optimal utilisation of our resources, both natural and human.

Despite plan investment in the past infrastructure in the north east has been quite poor. Not only that, we have to develop our present infrastructure but we have to be nationally and globally compatible.

All the state capitals are immediately required to be connected by 4 lane super highways. Inland waterways, wherever possible, must be developed. The state capitals of the north east must also find place in the Indian Railways map. Today’s world vis-a-vis industries are knowledge intensive and therefore tele-communication and information technology will have to play a major role for development of the north east besides providing the vital communication with the remotest pockets.

The north east is endowed with rich soil and favourable agro-climatic condition. Land must not remain unutilised here. Proper land resource mapping should be done immediately using GIS/LIS tools for intensive use of land for the benefit of the people.

Today development is synonymous with consumption of power. The north east, amply reflected as the country’s future power house, must harness exploitable hydro-power of this region. Power generated in this region can be put to use commercially not only with the main land but also with the surrounding countries in line with the SAARC cooperation.

There is no dearth of talent in this region. Education system is to be modernised so that our boys and girls do not suffer from inferiority complex but match others, both at national and global levels.

Our forest is a matter of pride to the whole nation. The people living in these forests have become a part of the ecosystem. An integrated scientific approach is necessary for development, management and fullest use of our forest resources. A master plan for development of forest, which is also a part of fragile ecosystem of this part of the country, needs to be formulated.

A sizeable portion of the population in the north east are underprivileged, especially those belonging to scheduled tribes, scheduled casts and other backward communities. They need special attention and therefore special development packages should be formulated for their all round development.

Last but not the least, I would like to especially mention the need for employment generation. In fact this should be one of our focal points of development planning to arrest restlessness among the younger generation. We should have a fresh approach towards development of north east in a holistic manner and not as piecemeal as done in the past. Five to seven years’ development programme may be taken up so that we may catch up with the rest of the country. One fundamental step that would be necessary for materialising development in the north east shall be of course the allocation of adequate fund to remove the existing gap.

A MATTER OF CONCERN

North eastern region is surrounded by foreign countries, which is a matter of concern. But we should have a strategy to leverage this into an opportunity. With the help of the government of India, border trade has become a possibility and will definitely offer an excellent opportunity for the entire north east to become a hub of South Asian growth quadrangle.

I express my unhappiness on reduction of allocation of fund during this year 2003-04 to Rs 500 crore for NEC from the amount (Rs 750 crore) agreed to during the annual plan discussion with Planning Commission. Allocation for 2003-04 must be substantially increased to Rs 800 crore as estimated by NEC to accommodate the requirements of Sikkim as well.

I would also like to mention here of some state-specific projects which require sanction/consideration by the NEC.

(i) Against the two 21 MW units originally proposed to be taken up under NEC, Planning Commission has cleared only one 21 MW for which fund may be immediately released. The other unit may also be sanctioned.

(ii) With the introduction of ATR flights, total seat capacity on weekly basis in Agarala-Kolkata sector has reduced. Wide-bodied Jet aircraft should operate in this sector and total seat capacity must improve. Both Kamalpur and Kailashsahar airports should be made operational and flights may touch upon these two airports en route to Guwahati. We demand ATR service as an additionality over the normal air services for improving connectivity within the north east.

(iii) Four-laning of NH-44 must be done up to Agartala as a spine to the east-west national corridor.

(iv) The shelf of projects already posed to the NEC under the 10th plan may be sanctioned expeditiously.

(v) Agartala TV centre should be upgraded.

(vi) To improve the security environment, (a) camps of insurgents in Bangladesh must be demolished, (b) the work on border fencing is required to be expedited and security must be provided by the GOI while executing the border fencing, (c) strength of BSF is to be augmented, (d) army deployment should be there and (e) NSCN should be asked not to provide support to any of the militant groups in the north east.

(vii) The following new road projects proposed under the 10th Plan of NEC may also be sanctioned: (a) Dharmanagar-Thilthai-Damcherra-Khedacherra road (60 km), (b) Agartala-Mohanpur-Chebri road (54 km), (c) Chebri-Teliamuar-Amarpur-Jatanbari road (89 km), (d) Dangabari-Gandacherra-Raishyabari road (47 km) and (e) Bishalgarh-Boxanagar-Sonamura-Belonia road (83 km).

Peace and development are interlinked. For lasting peace, development is very important. Insurgency in the past has affected development activities in some parts of the north east. I am particularly happy to see that the issue of insurgency in the region is being discussed as a separate agenda item. I hope this would help us find a better solution for a better tomorrow.