New Delhi, Nov 10 (PTI) The Centre has convened a meeting of chief ministers of all the eight northeastern states on November 19 to chart out a concrete time-bound roadmap to ensure equitable development and economic uplift of the region.
“A meeting of chief ministers of all eight northeastern states has been called on November 19,” newly-appointed Minister for DoNER Jitendra Singh told PTI after taking over charge of the Ministry.
He has also written individual letters to each of the eight chief ministers spelling out his vision for the growth and development of the northeastern region. Singh also said that development and concern for northeast are high on the agenda of the NDA government and he was conscious of the faith and responsibility that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reposed in him by entrusting this charge to him.
The northeastern states have their own peculiarities and adversities, Singh said, adding there was also a perception among the people of the region that they were not getting the deserved attention.
He said he will work to ensure that the pace of progress and development in northeast are the same as that in the rest of the country.
The chief ministers whom Singh addressed individual letters are Nabam Tuki of Arunachal Pradesh, Tarun Gogoi of Assam, Okram Ibobi Singh of Manipur, Mukul Sangma of Meghalaya, Lal Thanhawla of Mizoram, T R Zeliang of Nagaland, Pawan Chamling of Sikkim and Manik Sarkar of Tripura.
He also wrote similar letters to the governors Lt. Gen (retd.) Nirbhay Sharma (Arunachal Pradesh), Janaki Ballabh Patnaik (Assam), Krishan Kant Paul (Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram), Padmnabha Acharya (Nagaland and Tripura) and Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil (Sikkim).
Earlier Singh was greeted by senior officers of the ministry led by Secretary DoNER R Vijaykumar on his arrival at the Vigyan Bhawan Annexe office of the ministry.