GUWAHATI, Nov 29 ? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has mooted the preparation of a blueprint to deal with the problem of unemployment in the entire North East. The blueprint would seek to adopt a ?radical approach? beyond merely offering government jobs, Minister of State for Planning and Development Himanta Biswa Sarma disclosed today.
Trying to defend the recent visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which has been severely attacked by the Opposition parties as having failed to yield anything substantial to the State in terms of funds, Sarma said during a press conference here that Singh had in fact initiated several measures that could bring about a sea change in the State?s economic scenario besides fostering development in the entire region.
Sarma said that the Prime Minister has sought suggestions from all the North East States for the preparation of the blueprint. The Assam Government has taken a lead in this regard and has constituted an expert committee to come up with appropriate suggestions. The committee is being headed by Haren Das, he added.
The minister also said that following the Prime Minister?s trip, the Centre has granted Rs 88 crore to the State to initiate flood protection schemes. Another Rs 20 crore or so would come from the calamity relief fund (CRF). Sarma said that a large number of flood protection work would be taken up over the next few months from these funds which would be tied up with the centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) to ensure better monitoring, he pointed out.
Apart from this, the Prime Minister during his two-day visit to the city had also assured a complete review of the State?s financial position soon, said Sarma. The Centre will also come out with a comprehensive set of proposals to give a boost to the ailing tea industry. Singh has also asked the Assam Government to initiate as many micro-hydel projects as needed, he added.
Sarma said that the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become ?intellectually bankrupt?, and accused it of unnecessarily trying to find fault with the Prime Minister. He pooh poohed the BJP claim that during the previous NDA regime at the Centre it had given Rs 44,000 crore for development activities while projects worth over Rs 100,000 crore were initiated for Assam alone. He claimed that not a single paise was given by the Centre to the State except for the regular funds under the CSS when Atal Behari Vajpayee (of the BJP) was Prime Minister.
Attacking the previous BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre, Sarma questioned how many times Vajpayee or his deputy LK Advani had visited Assam to witness the havoc wrought by floods. He asserted that the BJP has always been anti-Assam and made only empty promises. Sarma alleged that the NDA Government did not keep its promise to convert the flood assistance given to Assam into grants. It also refused the request to raise the kerosene quota for the State. ?Not a single paise was given to the State as flood relief except the CRF.