Modi govt transformed North-East, retrieved it from neglect: Singh

The Modi government has successfully transformed the Northeast and retrieved the region from several decades of continuous neglect, within three years, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday.

Addressing a public meeting to highlight the achievements of the three years of the Narendra Modi government here, Singh said the development of the Northeastern region was put on fast-track so that it could grow at par with the rest of India.

Effective and visible steps were taken to bridge the physical and psychological gap between the Northeast and the other parts of the country, he said.

The minister of state for the development of the north eastern region (DoNER) said each of the eight Northeastern states today can rightfully claim to be progressing and growing like any other state.

This itself was a huge physical as well as psychological redemption of what was left undone or half-done in the past, he said.

Singh said the extent of priority extended by the NDA government to the Northeast was borne out by the fact that in the last three years, the Prime Minister has made nearly a dozen visits to the region. The prime minister also chose Guwahati to address a public rally to commemorate the three years of his government on May 26.

Statistically, Singh said, the budget for the Northeast received a hike of over 25 per cent in last three years. Over Rs 40,000 crore has been earmarked for road development.

A special road corporation namely the 'Northeast Road Development Scheme' was launched to take care of the neglected roads of the region.

The minister also referred to the announcement of launching, the first-of-its-kind the 'Hill Area Development Programme' for the region yesterday from Imphal.

He said this programme would exclusively aim at addressing the geo-physical diversities of the region so as to ensure equitable growth of every district / area, which would finally make the Northeastern states capable of competing with the other states of the country at an equal level.