Jitendra Singh says the budget for the Northeast has seen 25 per cent hike in last three years.
The government has successfully transformed the Northeast and retrieved the region from several decades of continuous neglect within three years, union minister Jitendra Singh said today.
At a public meeting to highlight the achievements of three years of the Narendra Modi government, Mr Singh said the development of the Northeastern region was put on fast-track so that it could grow at par with the rest of India.
Effective and visible steps were taken to bridge the physical and psychological gap between the Northeast and other parts of the country, he said. The minister of state for the development of the northeastern region or DoNER said each of the eight Northeastern states today can rightfully claim to be progressing and growing like any other state.
This itself was a huge physical as well as psychological redemption of what was left undone or half-done in the past, Mr Singh said. He said the extent of priority extended by the National Democratic Alliance government to the Northeast was borne out by the fact that in the last three years, the prime minister has made nearly a dozen visits to the region and he chose Guwahati to address a public rally to commemorate three years of his government on May 26.
Statistically, Mr Singh said the budget for the Northeast received a hike of over 25 per cent in the last three years. Over Rs 40,000 crore has been earmarked for road development. A special road corporation namely the Northeast Road Development Scheme was launched to take care of the neglected roads of the region, he said.
The minister also referred to the announcement of launching the Hill Area Development Programme for the region yesterday from Imphal. He said this programme would exclusively aim at addressing the geo-physical diversities of the region so as to ensure equitable growth.