Achievments of the UPA Government Special Development Needs -North East and Jammu & Kashmir Broad Policy – The UPA Government is pledged to respecting the letter and spirit of Article 370 of the Constitution that accords a special status to J&K. Dialogue with all groups and with different shades of opinion in J&K will be pursued on a sustained basis, in consultation with the democratically-elected State Government. The healing touch policy pursued by the State Government will be fully supported and an economic and humanitarian thrust provided to it. The State will be given every assistance to rebuild its infrastructure quickly. New efforts will be launched to bring investments in areas like power, tourism, handicrafts and sericulture. The UPA Government is determined to tackle terrorism, militancy and insurgency in the northeast as a matter of urgent national priority. All northeastern States will be given special assistance to upgrade and expand infrastructure. India’s northeast demands and will receive special treatment with particular emphasis on roads, power, tourism, communication and handicrafts. Without the restoration of law and order and a firm approach to combating militancy, no development can be sustained in the northeast The northeast will emerge as a gateway to East Asia with which India is building new economic relationships The Northeastern Council will be strengthened and given adequate professional support. The territorial integrity of existing States will be maintained. Exhibits – NORTH EAST Securing peace The UPA Government has appealed to militant groups to give up violence and to come forward for talks without conditions. A number of outfits have suspended operations and engaged in dialogue, which has contributed to relieving the sense of alienation among some of our people. A large number of people from the Bru/Reang tribe have returned to Mizoram and been rehabilitated. Diplomatic initiatives have been taken with Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan for tackling insurgent outfit operations. Special focus has been given to completing theborder fence and roads along the Indo-Bangladesh border. The UPA Government has improved the scheme for surrender and rehabilitation of militants in the Northeast. In order to create employment opportunities and wean youth away from the path of violence, 20% of vacancies of constables in Border Guarding Forces have been allotted to areas affected by militancy, including the Northeast. Special Central Assistance is being provided for modernisation of State police forces and, under the revised Scheme, all seven States in the Northeast have been made eligible for 100% central funding. A regional coordination mechanism, covering all the Northeastern states, for gathering, analyzing and disseminating intelligence has been set up at Shillong and has been operationalized with effect from 23rd February 2010. A number of militant groups have laid down their arms and are prepared to discuss their demands with the government. A Government of India Representative has been appointed to hold talks with some of the militant groups from Assam and Meghalaya The security situation in some of the North-Eastern states has shown improvement in 2010 as compared to the previous year in terms of number of incidents of violence and causalities of civilians and security forces. Government of India representatives have been appointed to hold talks with someof the militant groups from Assam and Meghalaya. Meanwhile, Naga peace talks continued in 2010 NORTH EAST Roads The UPA-1 Government has approved a Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the Northeast to improve about 8,737 km of roads. Phase A of the project, involving work on 2,319 km of roads, has been approved and works are in progress. Work on the East-West Corridor under the National Highway Development Programme is also under way. An 1,840-km long two-lane Trans-Arunachal Pradesh Higwhay will be constructed across the length of the State and Itanagar will be connected with a four-lane highway. The norms of coverage of villages under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana have been revised to ensure coverage to hundreds of additional habitations in the Northeast. In 2009, Bids have already been received for four projects with a total length of 776 km. to be awarded shortly. In 2010-11, 1615 km of roads have been sanctioned, for an amount of Rs 9160 crore, under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in the North-East (SARDP-NE). The total expenditure incurred under the programme is about Rs 1067 crore and a length of about 146 km has been completed till March, 2011. NORTH EAST Railways The UPA-1 Government has taken up electrification of the remaining 800 km Barauni-Katihar-Guwahati section on the mainline leading to Guwahati, construction of the rail-cum-road bridge over Brahmaputra River at Bogibeel, gauge conversion of the Lumding-Silchar and Rangia-Murkongselek lines, and construction of the Kumarghat-Agartala-Sabroom,Jiribam-Tupul (Imphal Road), Bhairabhi-Sairang(Aizawl) and Itanagar-Haruti new railway lines toprovide better connectivity for the State capitals of Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram andArunachal Pradesh, besides opening up the possibility of a rail link at a later date to Chittagong Port from Sabroom. To strengthen rail linkages in the region and with South East Asian neighbours, the Government has signed the Inter-Governmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway. NORTH EAST Airports The North Eastern Council has been collaborating with the Airports Authority of India to upgrade 18 airports in the North Eastern Region. Greenfield airports will be built in Assam and at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. The North Eastern Council has taken the initiative to establish a dedicated airline for the region. Several schemes for development of airports in the region have been taken up at Agartala, Barapani, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Guwahati, Silchar, Imphal, Jorhat and Rupsi. Five civil airports made operational and five defence airstrips upgraded in Arunachal Pradesh. Helicopter services in the Northeast have been expanded in terms of capacity, frequency and destinations Air connectivity in this region has improved. While 286 flights were scheduled for summer 2010, the number now stands at 370 for summer 2011. A sum of Rs 11.61 crore was released by the North Eastern Council, as the first instalment, for the upgradation of Tezu airport during 2010-11. An extension of viability gap funding to M/s Alliance Air for providing air services in the North-Eastern region has been approved for the year 2011 at a cost of Rs 47.07 crore. NORTH EAST Inland waterways The UPA Government has introduced a bill in Parliament for declaring the Lakhipur-Bhanga stretch along the Barak River as a national waterway, which will improve connectivity of major commercial centres like Lakhipur, Silchar and Badarpur in the Barak valley with the major ports of Haldia and Kolkata. NORTH EAST Power The Prime Minister has laid the foundation stones for the 3,000 MW Dibang multipurpose project – the country’s largest hydroelectric project – and the 110 MW Pare hydroelectric power project in Arunachal Pradesh this year. Earlier, the UPA Government approved the 600 MW Kameng hydroelectric power project in the State and resumed work on the 2,000 MW Subansiri Lower hydroelectric power project. The NTPC is working towards starting a 500 MW thermal power plant at Salakati in Assam by 2009. The Prime Minister has laid the foundation of a 750 MW gas-based thermal power plant in Tripura. Villages are being electrified under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. A programme for electrification of all households in Arunachal Pradesh has been announced In 2010-11, as on 15.3.2011, 6971 villages have been electrified, 11183 villages have been intensively electrified and electricity connections have been released to 7.03 lakh BPL households under RGGVY. Under the PM’s Package Project on electrification/illumination of all villages along the border of Arunachal Pradesh, 726 villages have been electrified through solar lighting and micro hydel power plants. NORTH EAST Industrial promotion The UPA Government has notified a more liberal new industrial and investment promotion policy for the Northeast, which has doubled capital subsidy and covered Sikkim as well. Work on the Assam Gas Cracker Project has started and will further contribute to the industrial development of the region through many more downstream polymer/plastic processing units, generating employment.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 00:58:39 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015