New Delhi: The Union Minister of State for Development of North-East Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Jitendra Singh, said yesterday that as per extant guidelines, each Central Ministry and Department is expected to spend 10% of its Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) as per prescribed norms in the North Eastern Region (NER). However, no state-wise allocations are made, and funds are released to States based on requirements against sanctioned projects and schemes.

In addition, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) and North Eastern Council (NEC) implement schemes like Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS), North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS) and others for bridging the infrastructure gaps in certain identified sectors in the NER.

Normative allocations under schemes of MDoNER and Schemes of NEC are done as per prescribed norms which include inter alia area; population; human development index; road density; percentage of census villages electrified; number of hospital beds; percentage of households having safe drinking water; and completion rate of projects.

Release of funds by MDoNER and NEC under their schemes is based on the progress of implementation of projects. The Minister shared the status of funds released during the last five years under the schemes of MDoNER and NEC.

According to the data, the total founds in the last 5 years amounted to Rs 8,687.71 crore, out of which Rs 1,834.2 crore was the amount released last year, i.e. 2018-19.

The state with highest funds released was Assam consistently across all 5 years, and an amount of Rs 453.2 crore was released in 2018-19.

Although, in some cases delays have been noticed in completion of the projects from the schedule, keeping in view various constraints like short working seasons and difficult terrains, the pace of development in North Eastern States is considered satisfactory. Continuous efforts are being made for further improvement in the pace of development.

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on 4 December.

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