Reports have appeared in a section of the media to the effect that:
- There is a tussle between Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (M/o DoNER) and North Eastern Council (NEC);
- M/o DoNER has restrained the council from sanctioning of new projects and instead asked NEC to clear the liabilities of NLCPR-Central Scheme of M/o DoNER.
In this regard, it is clarified that Union Cabinet had fixed the allocation of NEC as Rs.4500 Cr for a period of three years starting from 1st April, 2017, which included the allocation required for clearance of certain committed liabilities.
Out of the said allocation of Rs 4500 Cr, NEC has sanctioned new projects worth Rs. 1741.06 Cr since 1st April, 2017. Therefore, the report which appeared in the media is incorrect. During the period, NEC has spent an amount of Rs 2688.33 Cr on various ongoing and newly sanctioned projects. Out of this only an amount of Rs 343.86 Cr has been utilized for clearing liabilities of schemes transferred from M/o DoNER to NEC.
NEC is a statutory body set up under an Act of Parliament, and enjoys the requisite autonomy in its functioning and freedom to sanction projects in various Sectors entrusted to NEC as per Cabinet decision subject to approval of competent authority and availability of requisite budgetary provisions. During 2017-18 and 2018-19, NEC has spent an amount of Rs 2140.29 Cr on various projects. For the current year, against an allocation of Rs 1476.10 Cr, as on Sep 09,2019 an amount of Rs 548.04 Cr has been spent on various ongoing & newly sanctioned projects. Reallocation of sectors between M/o DoNER and NEC was done with the approval of Cabinet to avoid overlapping of Sectors.
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