Development / Northeast

NEW DELHI, March 13 ? Claiming that the Central Government has adopted an overall comprehensive strategy to develop the power sector in the North-east, Union Power Minister, Suresh Prabhu has outlined plans to set up 10 new power projects and to evacuate surplus power outside the region. The reason for the minister?s confidence in the ability to generate surplus, power in the region, currently reeling under acute power surplus, was North-east?s untapped hydro electric power (HEP) assessed at 58,971 MW, which accounts for 38 per cent of the country?s total assessed potential. As of now, however...

GUWAHATI, March 13 ? The North-east with its unparalleled scenic beauty, rich cultural heritage and abundant wildlife can emerge as a major tourist destination provided infrastructural bottlenecks are removed and opportunities given to the private sector for investment in tourism. Making above observation, Sri BK Goswami, former Secretary of Tourism, Government of India, today said that participation of the private sector can give the much-needed thrust to the tourism industry in the State while the Government should take the role of a pro-active facilitator. Sri Goswami is now acting as...

NEW DELHI, March 10 ? Even as ongoing projects are gasping for funds, the North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO) has surrendered foreign direct investments (FDI) worth Rs 83.26 crore because it failed to utilise the funds owing to adverse law-and-order situation in the region. While the North Eastern State Chief Ministers are crying hoarse over lack of foreign investments in that part of the country, NEEPCO failed to award work for various packages connected with project work on 60 MW Tuirial hydroelectric project (HEP) in Mizoram due to ?various reasons? including impact of the...

NEW DELHI, March 9 ? Rail projects in the North-East are likely to suffer further delay and cost-overrun as they are hit by serious financial crunch and the department has been forced to knock at the doors of the Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) for additional funds to complete pending projects in the region. While the north eastern States continue to vent their frustration over delay in implementation of projects and the meagre funds earmarked for mega projects in the successive Railway Budgets, the Ministry has sought to move the Centre for funding some of its...

SHILLONG, March 6 ? The North Eastern Council (NEC) has accorded administrative approval to schemes worth over Rs 46.81 crore and sanctioned for release of Rs 6.69 crore for implementation of various schemes in the North Eastern States during February this year. A press release issued by the NEC said administrative approval has been accorded to the work pertaining to the revised estimate for construction of Dhodar Ali Road from 6th to 17th km at an estimated cost of Rs 446.72 lakhs. NEC has sanctioned for release of grant of Rs 135 lakhs and a loan of Rs 15 lakhs to Assam Government towards...

GUWAHATI, March 5 : Beginning April 5, Air India (AI) will commence its twice-a-week operation from Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi (LGB) Airport here on Thursdays and Mondays with a 200-seater Airbus 310. Addressing a Press conference here this afternoon, the Air India Director (Public Relations), Jitendra Bhargava informed that at the initial two months the AI would operate international flight in Mumbai-Kolkata-Guwahati-Bangkok route at ?affordable rates? although he refused to divulge the exact rate of fares at this moment. He informed that AI in collaboration with all State Tourism...

GUWAHATI, March 3? The Centre has launched an Accelerated Power Development Programme (APDP) to explore the power potential of the north-eastern States. While inaugurating the programme here today, the Union Minister of Power, Sri Suresh Prabhu said that the programme is aimed at the providing uninterrupting power supply throughout the country with an annual estimated expenditure of Rs 3000 crore.

Underling the need for speeding up power sector reforms in the State, the Union Power Minister said three circles viz., Guwahati, Jorhat and Dibrugarh have been brought under the APDP, and the...

GUWAHATI, Feb 27 — All the airports in the north eastern region are suffering heavy losses as none of these is running in its full capacity and to aggravate matters, a number of airports remained closed for years. The Regional Executive Director of Airports Authority of India (AAI), Sri Srikrishan told The Assam Tribune that the revenue earned by AAI can be broadly divided into two heads – traffic revenue and non-traffic revenue. The traffic revenue includes the fees received from the airline companies on account of navigational aids, landing fees, parking charge etc, while the non-traffic...

SHILLONG, Feb 21 – Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, North East Space Application Centre (NE-SAC), Dr K Kasturirangan is of the view that the Centre would play a vital role of integrating space technology with the overall development of the region. He was addressing the second governing council meeting of the NE-SAC at Hotel Pine Wood here on February 19, NEC sources said.

The Centre has so far set up a ‘state-of-the-art’ remote sensing and GIS laboratories and mobile communication facilities to face any event of disaster. Dr PS Roy, Dean, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing...

SHILLONG, Feb 15 – While the most common refrain of the North Eastern Chief Ministers is that there is no fund for development, hundreds of crores of rupees earmarked for rural development go begging in the North East for want of utilisation. Take the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) of the Union Ministry of Rural Development. Against the All India average release of over 57 per cent, releases in the case of the NE States, with the exception of Sikkim and Tripura, are far below this average. While Sikkim tops in NE with 100 per cent release, Nagaland is at the bottom with barely 26 per cent.

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