Imphal, February 18: Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh has has made his displeasure known to the Centre over cutting down of the budget allocation for North Eastern Council and had accordingly wrote a letter urging Central Government to review the decision, an official source said.

Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh would not be taking part in the meeting of the NEC at Shillong on February 20, but Governor Arvind Dave has left Imphal today for taking part in the meeting, the source informed.

Stating that the fund to be released is meant for taking up various developmental works in the North Eastern region, the source said that the Centre had earlier given instruction for making developmental project plan for Rs 500 crores, but slashed the budget allocation to a meagre Rs 395 crores.

The move of the Centre has taken all the Chief Ministers of the North Eastern States by surprised and they have made known their displeasure in no uncertain term.

To express his resentment, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh would not be taking part in the meeting of the NEC to be held at Shillong on February 20, the official source said, informing that Governor Arvind Dave has left Imphal for Shillong today to take part in the said meeting.

Another reason for the inability of the Chief Minister to make his presence felt at the NEC meeting is due coinciding the day of the meeting with scheduled meeting of the business advisory board of Assembly session.

However, Planning Commissioner A Luikham along with Planning Director have left Imphal for Shillong to part in the meeting to be held ahead of the NEC meeting tomorrow with NEC Secretary in the chair, the source informed, adding that the Centre's decision of reducing the budget allocation is the agenda like to dominate at the meeting.

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