SHILLONG, Feb 9 — The Chief Ministers of the north-eastern States today strongly urged the Centre to open up the trade routes with neighbouring Bangla-desh and Myanmar to boost the sagging economies of the States. Speaking at the meeting of the Chief Ministers convened by the Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) here, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his Tripura and Nagaland counterparts Manik Sarkar and SC Jamir highlighted the acute funds crunch faced by the States in the region and the need for expanding trade with the neighbours as a solution to the problem. They also pleaded that the Centre take up with the neighbouring countries to stop the activities of the North-east militant outfits operating from their soil if the development process in the region is to pick up steam.
Tripura Chief Minister bluntly asked the Union Government to ‘either ask our neighbours to close down the hideouts and training camps or else smash those.” Union Minister, DONER, Arun Shourie assured the Chief Ministers that he would convey their feelings to the Union Defence Minister and Union Home Minister and ensure a meeting between the two sides on the issues. Sarkar had also asked the Centre to hand over a list of NE militants to the neighbours for handing them over to India for crimes committed here. Responding to the Chief Ministers’ pleas for more funds, Shourie assured ‘to make a beginning, 100 per cent grant would be provided for irrigation schemes in the region. This could be gradually expanded to other Centrally-sponsored schemes at a later stage.”
The Union Minister asked the State Governments to take advantage of the Centre’s special attention to the development of the region. He, however, cautioned: “The north-eastern States must plug the large-scale ‘leakages’ of funds as highlighted repeatedly in CAG reports.” He announced that four 5-seater aircraft will be acquired within a week to improve air connectivity in the region with Guwahati as the hub of air services. The North Eastern Council (NEC) would allocate Rs 35 crore annually for subsidising the air fare in the region, he said.
Magsayay award winner and North-east expert BG Verghese strongly advocated opening up of border trade between North-east and the neighbouring countries and blamed the Centre for delaying the matter. Noted journalist Sanjay Hazarika suggested promotion of self-governance and transparency to weed out the wholesale corruption in the region. He warned that unless the people are involved in the development process, “we may win the battle against militancy, yet lose the war for development.” Arunachal Chief Minister Mukut Mithi, his Meghalaya counterpart Dr FA Khonglam and senior officials of the Centre and NE States also attended the day-long meeting.