New Delhi, February 17: Complaining that fund allocation for the development of the North Eastern States are not adequate, eight States of the region today urged the Centre to take urgent steps for removing backwardness and communication bottleneck to bring them into the path of progress.

In the 52nd meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC), which was held here with the participation of Governors and Chief Ministers of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Governors of Assam and Sikkim, the leaders unequivocally said that adequate resources must be provided by the Centre to the region for its development.

Observing that infrastructure development of the North East required sufficient funds, Manipur Governor SS Sidhu appealed to the Union Finance Ministry to support development projects of the region adequately.

"Today, it is widely appreciated that development of NE region is not just a North East affair but it is also a matter of National concern, especially in view of the Government of India's Look East Policy," Siddhu said.

Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh urged the Centre to take care of ground realities of the region before framing policy for the entire country since it may have serious consequences for the infrastructure development of these small States.

"I would like to propose that we should collectively approach the Centre, especially the Ministry of Finance not to burden the North Eastern States with the 10 per cent loan component for projects under NEC and others and that this may be provided in full by the Central Government from its resources as done prior to 2005-06," Singh said.

"Inspite of the joint representation of the eight CMs of the North East to the Prime Minister to enhance the plan outlay of NEC during 2005-06 to Rs 1136.80 crore, the outlay of the NEC continues to stagnate at a miserable low of Rs 461.50 crore," Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said while delivering his speech at the meeting.

He said with many mega projects of roads, bridges and hydel power, the budget for the NEC for 2006-07 should be enhanced to at least Rs 2012 crore.

Mentioning about the 'NER Vision 2020' which is being prepared for the integrated development of the region, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said the region has been lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of development which created the feeling of "neglect" among the people.

"We have spent enough time discussing theories of development and words of hope and wisdom.

People of the States now want to see action and if we fail to act now, the formation and the very existence of NEC will be questioned," he said.

Asking the Union Government to properly develop its 'Look East Policy', Mizoram Government Zoramthanga said the policy should be based on a 15 year perspective plan.

Fifteen year perspective plan for the integrated and holistic development of the region should be need-based at the implementation stage and not resource-based, he said.

Meghalaya Chief Minister DD Lapang said central allocation for the NEC should be enhanced in order to ensure that it achieves its targeted objectives.

Lapang also suggested that airport infrastructure and air connectivity of the North East should be improved suitably in all the State capitals on top priority basis.

In his address, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs and Development of North East Affairs PR Kyndiah said if adequate resources were not provided the "development process would falter".

"The issue of adequate resource availability for the 11th Plan needs to be addressed comprehensively.

The imperatives of much larger plan investments in NER have to be fully appreciated," Kyndiah, who is also NEC chairman, said.

He also said there should not be any gap between originally agreed plan outlay and the funds actually allocated.

In his address, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang hoped that the NEC would be able to find suitable corrective measures to solve the problems related to the socio-economic development of the region.

We anticipate more release of fund for NEC and other schemes and for such releases, the loan component amount would increase further.

If the Tenth Finance Commission recommendations cannot be altered, we would urge upon the government of India to give assent for raising of more market borrowing, Apang said.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, whose speech was read out in his absence, favoured proper utilisation of all funds and careful monitoring of all development programmes.

"I can understand the concern of the Government of India about the utilisation of huge amounts by the States.

I would like to mention that the reasons for non-utilisation of funds should be examined more closely and carefully before taking them as a ground for not increasing NEC allocation," he said.

Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling was also absent in today's meeting.

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