Development / Northeast

GUWAHATI, Dec 4? Patients suffering from cancer in the North East will soon have expert help available at their very doorsteps. The North Eastern Council (NEC), headquartered in Shillong, has drawn up an ambitious project to link some 72 referral hospitals in the region with the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai. The dream tele-medicine project will become a reality by March next year. Speaking to The Assam Tribune here today, NEC Secretary PL Thanga said that Rs 39 crore has been earmarked for the project. ?The NEC will fund the project to link 72 units in all the States including Sikkim...

GUWAHATI, June 9 ? At the recently-held conference of Power Ministers of the north-eastern States, the chairman-cum-managing director of the North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO) received kudos for serving the interests of the region and being the only Central PSU where 90 per cent of the employees belonged to the backward region. But the actions, decisions and policies adopted by the present CMD, SC Sharma, since he took over in November last year, have raised serious doubts on whether the NEEPCO is actually serving the interests of the region.

Undoubtedly, the NEEPCO is the...

GUWAHATI, June 9 ? The Union Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) is considering provision of 90 per cent Central fund for electrifying all the villages of NE region by the end of 2012 under a Government of India proposal. The Union Government proposal is so formulated that all the villages in the country will be touched by the end of the Tenth Five Year Plan and all the houses in the rural areas will be electrified by the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

Under the proposal, funds to the other States will be provided on 50:50 basis, while the NE States are sought to be provided the...

Guwahati, June 7: A major chunk of Central funds for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and economically weaker sections in the region remained unspent in spite of the concerted efforts by financial corporations.

Revealing this, the North Eastern Council (NEC) said the funds allotted through the financial corporations do not come through proper schemes and neither do they reach the needy.

One of the reasons for this unsatisfactory implementation is the lack of awareness among the people, the beneficiaries and also lapses at various levels, he said.

The National Commission for...

GUWAHATI, June 7 ? The north-eastern region produces more than half of the total bamboo production in the country, but the tremendous potential of bamboo products is yet to be tapped fully. However, the scenario is likely to change with the implementation of 1.54-million-dollar cane and bamboo technological upgradation and networking project under which a Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre has been set up in the city.

The project funded by the UNDP, is being executed by the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India and implemented by the United Nations Industrial...

GUWAHATI, June 5? Monsoon has hit the eastern region on June 5 at 22 degree north and 920 east, said D. Sinha, Director meteorological centre, Guwahati. Talking to this correspondent the Director informed that the delayed monsoon has hit Silchar, Tezpur and has advanced upto Manipur, Nagaland and at eastern parts of Mizoram, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, he said. The delay in the onset of monsoon was due to the cyclonic winds in the month of May. The cyclonic wind has disturbed the normal pattern of monsoon, but with monsoon on rainfall is likely to occur in many places, in the North East, he...

GUWAHATI, June 5 ? The water resources management projects in the NE region will require some relaxed economic criteria, said Sri A Sekhar, Advisor (Water Resources) of the Planning Commission of India. He was talking to The Assam Tribune on June 3 at Tezpur. Sri Sekhar, who had been to the State on a three-day visit in connection with a two-day workshop on policy framework for efficient management of water and land resources for poverty alleviation in NE region, organised by the Tezpur-based North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management (NERIWALM), was replying to a question...

GUWAHATI, June 5? The Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), set up in September 2001 to act as the nodal department of the Centre to deal with matters pertaining to the socio-economic development of the eight states of the region, has expressed dissatisfaction with the rate of progress in the implementation of development schemes and programmes in the North East.

Speaking to newspersons here today, Union Minister of State for DoNER and Small Scale Industry (SSI) Tapan Sikdar said that the department has taken the matter ?very seriously.? Sikdar, along with Union Minister...

New Delhi, June 4: The Centre has ordered a review of all ongoing projects funded by it in the Northeast.

The exercise has been undertaken to bring a greater degree of accountability besides ensuring timely completion of the schemes.

The Union minister for department for Development of North Eastern Region (Doner) and small-scale industries C.P. Thakur has been given the task to review the projects.

?The entire pattern of funds flow to the region and the funding of projects can be made more efficient with a bit of inspection and by rectifying the existing loopholes. While some ministries...

GUWAHATI, June 4 ? The neglected North East has now got the best possible opportunities to make a foray into the booming Information Technology enabled services (ITES). Its students will now be able to get themselves trained in ITES with the Department of Development of the North Eastern Region (DONER) offering a heavy subsidy to pursue the course. The DONER has identified the North East as a creche for potential manpower to be utilised in the ITES industry which is currently growing at a rate of 59 per cent in India. DONER, in association with the Department of Information Technology (DIT)...