Union Minister of State for Development of the North Eastern Region General (retd.) V.K. Singh, who served in the region in several capacities during his career in the Army, has sought feedback to help him discharge his function for development of the North-East. Talking about the onerous responsibility on assumption of office, he said that he proposed to start a webpage where people from the North-East can send their feedback, suggestions and complaints. For people from the region living in various parts of the country, various activities like awareness creation and meetings would be taken up, he added.
On Wednesday, he , in a tweet, promised the nation that he would find a solution to the harassment of people from the area, saying it was his top priority. Gen. Singh said that he “strongly condemns” the harassment of the people from the region. “It will be my priority to find a solution to this.”
The expectations of the people and various stakeholders from the Centre and the new Minister are enormous. Chairman of the Forum of the Industries and Commerce Ministers of North Eastern State and Assam Industries and Commerce Minister, Pradyut Bordoloi, hoped that the new DoNER Minister would be sensitive to the requirement of the region and that proper implementation of the North-East Industrial Promotion Policy (NEIPP) would be supplemented by his Ministry.
Mr. Bordoloi hoped Gen. Singh would take the initiative for implementation of the NEIPP, 2007 in letter and in spirit. He said that the Forum pointed out to the Centre that certain provisions of the NEIPP had been diluted to the disadvantage of the region and hoped that the new Minister would take the initiative to undo such dilution.
