Central government to 100% fund development projects in Northeast

New Delhi : The Central government will now 100 per cent fund the development projects in the Northeast region - unlike 90 per cent as per previous policy while the remaining had to be done by the state, it was announced on Thursday.

Briefing the media after Cabinet meet, Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh called the decision as "historic". The government has allocated Rs 4,500 crore for the purpose.

The ongoing projects would be as per the older formula of 90:10 but the new projects would be completely funded by the Centre, he said, adding that the ongoing projects would be completed by 2020.

He said the focus areas of the 100 per cent centrally-funded development schemes would be bamboo, regional tourism and higher education including medical education. He also announced a road development scheme for the NortheEast.

"We have also announced a Northeast Road Development Scheme for the ‘orphan' roads. This is the first region-specific road development scheme. The orphan roads are the ones which lie between two states and were neglected. Now the Centre had adopted these orphan roads," Singh said.

He said that the government has initially pledged Rs 1,000 crore for the project. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal interest in bringing equitable development to the North-east had started showing "transformational results".