Raphael Warjri

Shillong, 02 st November, 2023- Expressing happiness over the jointly virtual
inauguration of Akhaura-Agartala Railway Line by Prime Minister Sh. Narendra
Modi and his Bangldesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on 01 st November, 2023,
Secretary, NEC Sh. K. Moses Chalai said that out of this 12 KMs railway line
project, 5.45Kms of Indian portion has been funded by MDoNER and NEC for
Rs.863 Crores. The total sanctioned cost of the project for 12KMs was
Rs.973Crore in July, 2016. NEC has already released Rs 708.73 Cr.
He was addressing a media delegation comprising 13 media persons from
Maharashtra here today at NEC. This delegation is on a study tour organized by the
Press Information Bureau under the Central Sector Scheme-Development
Communication and Information Dissemination, with the primary objective of
showcasing the various development activities taking place in Meghalaya, role of
various organizations of Government of India in providing stability and
development assistance and highlighting the rich cultural assets of the state.
While interacting with the journalists, Secretary said that the North Eastern
Council being the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the
North Eastern Region has been instrumental in its development. Its achievements
in the last 50 years after its inception in 1972, have been phenomenal in the areas
of infrastructure development, education, health and agriculture. Being a planning
body for NER, NEC has set up North East Resource Centre (NERCEN) with
objectives to promote use of remote sensing and satellite imagery, web-enabled
GIS based tourist & health information system and gap assessment in road
connectivity, promote research and innovations in areas such as major climate
change drivers, innovative and disruptive technologies, documentation of
Indigenous habitats, endangered scripts and languages and backward and deprived
areas and dynamic data centre and one stop portal for access to information on
livelihood and career options.

Chalai said that NEC has been a major player in establishing many iconic
projects like Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, North East Police
Academy, Shillong, North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation Ltd. Shillong,
North Eastern Region Agriculture Marketing Corporation Guwahati, North Eastern
Regional Institute of Science & Technology, Itanagar, Regional Institute of
Paramedical & Nursing Sciences, Aizawl, North Eastern Regional Institute of
Water and Land Management in Tezpur, Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional
Institute of Mental Health Tezpur, North Eastern Space Application Centre,
Shillong, Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute, Regional Dental College,
Guwahati, Regional Nursing College, Guwahati, Regional Institute of
Pharmaceutical Science & Technology, Agartala and Cane and Bamboo
Technology Centre in Guwahati.
He apprised the delegation that a total of 11,432.00 km of roads have been
constructed with the NEC funding in NER. It has supported the installation of
694.5 MW of power plants and construction of 10,341.63 circuit km of
transmission and distribution lines, construction of 11 Inter-State Bus Terminus
(ISBT) and improvement of the infrastructure in 5 major airports of the Regions. It
has supported the North Eastern Region Community Resource Management
Project (NERCORMP) a sustainable Livelihood Project with support from IFAD.
Deputy Director, PIB Mumbai Ms. Jayadevi and Deputy Director, DDK
Shillong Sh. Sarnag Pofale, M&CO PIB Sh. Gopajit Das and NEC officers were
present on the occasion.