Development / Northeast

ITANAGAR, June 29?Arunachal Pradesh Government is making concerted efforts to re-open the traditional border trade routes with China, Bhutan and Myanmar to make this tribal-dominated state a nerve center of border trade in near future. ?My govt. is perusing the matter with utmost effort with the Center for taking up bilateral talks with the Governments of our neighbouring countries on priority basis?, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mukut Mithi said. The Chief Minister stated this while laying the foundation stone for circle headquarters office of Rima Putak in Changlang district of Arunachal...

NEW DELHI, June 28? In a fresh bid to market North-East in the corporate world, Department for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) and Indian Chambers of Commerce (ICC) have joined hands to organise a ?North East Business Summit? in Mumbai on July 19 and 20. Billed as the biggest-ever initiative to woo investors to the ?resource-rich? North-East, the two-day summit would see captains of industries interacting with top policy makers. Central Ministers and Chief Ministers of the region. In attendance would be senior Central Ministers including L.K.Advani, Union Finance Minister...

DIMAPUR, June 27 ? Although the Centre is keen on lifting the restriction imposed on the installation of the WLL facility extended to all the north-eastern states including Nagaland, the dream of linking every village with telephone connections by the end of the current year may take time as the MHA seems to be quite reluctant to revoke the ban citing security as the reason. During their three-day visit of the state capital last week the 12-member study team of the Parliamentary standing committee on information technology, led by the lone Lok Sabha member from the state, K Asungba Sangtam...

GUWAHATI, June 25 ? The Union Water Resource Ministry has been constantly maintaining, in view of the Union Power Ministry?s proposal to develop major hydel power projects in the NE region, that adequate flood cushioning provisions should be there in the reservoirs built for the purpose. Disclosing this, sources in the Brahmaputra Board here said that though the Board had prepared, or been preparing, the project reports for the major tributaries of the Brahmaputra like Kameng, Subansiri, Dihang, Dibang, Lohit, Noadihing and Pagladia, except for the last one, all the other projects have been...

SHILLONG, June 20 ? The North Eastern Council (NEC) has commissioned the preparation of a perspective ?Transport Plan? for the development of north-eastern region. An amount of Rs 45.90 lakh has already been sanctioned in April last to a New Delhi consultancy firm M/s Consulting Engineer Services for the purpose. During April-May last, the apex planing body in the region has accorded administrative approval to schemes totalling about Rs 1280 lakh besides sanctioning Rs 81 lakh for implementation of various schemes in the region, NEC sources said. Grants-in-aid of Rs 35 lakhs has been...

Imphal, June 13: Though the Indo-Myanmar free trade agreement signed between the two countries has resulted in an import of Rs 5 lakhs items from Myanmar per day, the quantity and the category of trade items being exported from India to Myanmar still remains a big question. Following the agreement, the Myanmarese Government had constructed a massive market complex at Namphalong on the Myanmar side and selling numerous items thereby generating a big income to the Government. Above this, Myanmarese traders even descend on Moreh in the Indian territory for selling vegetables, fruits etc earning...

SHILLONG, June 4 ? The Ministry of Rural Development has released an amount of Rs 1970.60 lakh to 35 districts in the north-eastern States as ad-hoc first instalment of Central funds under the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), according to an official statement. In addition, 16,977 tonnes of rice have been allocated to the districts at a total value of Rs 1935.12 lakh.

Tripura gets Rs 776.61 lakh for four districts under the scheme. This is besides 6460 tonnes of rice valued at Rs 762.62 lakh. The Ministry has released grants-in-aid of Rs 389.79 lakh to six districts of Meghalaya...

GUWAHATI, May 3 ? The Union Power Ministry has moved the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to bear the security expenditure of power projects in insurgency-hit north-eastern region even as the focus has been shifted for setting up of community-owned mini, micro and small power projects in the region to light up rural households. During an interaction with distinguished persons here, Union Minister of Power, Suresh Prabhu today informed that the security cost of NE power projects used to be included in the total project cost often resulting in steep escalation of project cost in the event of...

NEW DELHI, May 31 ? As part of its plans to improve air connectivity in the North Eastern Region (NER), the Union Cabinet has approved continuation of helicopter services in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Sikkim, besides extending the service to Tripura. A significant decision that is likely to directly benefit the region was the formal clearance by the Cabinet to re-open the Indian consulate in Mandalay in Myanmar. An assurance to the effect was given by External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh last year following a request from the Government of Myanmar.

Another decision that could grant a...

GUWAHATI, May 30 ? The Secretary of the Department of Development of North-Eastern Region (DONER), Dr P D Shenoy today made an appeal to financial institutions to improve the credit-deposit (CD) ratio in the North-east to the national level within three years to facilitate faster economic development of the region. Delivering the key-note address at the first ever seminar on ?investment opportunities in the North-eastern region? organised by the NEDFi here, Dr Shenoy pointed out that Union Finance Ministry had issued directives to the all India financial institutions to restructure their...