SHILLONG, May 29–The North Eastern Council (NEC) will not be ‘downgraded’, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs P R Kyndiah has assured.
“There was a move for down-grading the NEC in the recent past but I can now assure that the importance of the Council will never be undermined,” Kyndiah promised at a meeting with NEC officials in Shillong on Saturday. It may be mentioned here that the creation of a separate Central Department for the Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) by the then NDA regime at the Centre had given rise to misgivings in official quarters to the effect that the authority and position of the NEC would be systematically undermined.
However, allaying such fears, Kyndiah, who is also in charge of the DoNER, today said: “The Council needs to be further strengthened and evolved into an effective regional planning body.” Stating that he, along with some other leaders of the region had been “unhappy” over the functioning of the NEC for “quite some time”, the veteran leader, who has been associated with the affairs of the North East for more than 50 years now, said the Council had deviated from its original mandate in the recent past.
“However, let us not dwell into the past but work together for a better future,” Kyndiah said, even as he urged the NEC officials to re-dedicate themselves to the service of the downtrodden masses of the backward North Eastern region. “Available funds should be judiciously used and accountability maintained at all costs,” he added.
Emphasising on greater transparency in the functioning of the Council, Kyndiah, a former Governor of Mizoram was candid: “I personally do not prefer heads of state (Governors) to be involved with the affairs of the NEC.”
“There is a need to take a fresh look at the functioning of the Council and ascertain whether it has been commensurate with the aspirations of the people of the region,” he said.
Observing that there should be no room for “misgivings and misjudgments,” Kyndiah, who recently assumed charge as an Union Minister said he was presently studying the various schemes and programmes implemented through the NEC for the development of the North East.