Shillong, Feb. 9: The chief ministers of the Northeast are gearing up for a heated session with Union minister C.P. Thakur following Delhi?s decision to downsize the North Eastern Council (NEC) budget.
Union minister of commerce and industry S.B. Mukherjee and Thakur, who is in charge of the department for development of north eastern region (Doner), are likely to attend the two-day special economic zone seminar here from February 17.
The Union finance ministry?s decision to trim the NEC budget for 2003-2004 by nearly Rs 420 crore has raised voices of protests from almost all chief ministers, including Tarun Gogoi of Assam. Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang said the pruning of the budget would figure prominently at the special economic zone seminar.
Lapang, who is the chairman of the North Eastern Congress Co-ordination Committee, was optimistic that the chief ministers and political parties of the region would organise more meetings to protest against the Centre?s decision. The council had convened an emergent internal meeting on Friday.