Question : DEVELOPING ECOSYSTEM IN NER

(a) whether the Government is contemplating to introduce fresh initiatives for developing ecosystem for the North Eastern States with special emphasis on creating value additions and market linkages ;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the details of the initiatives for the development of infrastructure in the North Eastern States; and

(d) the details of the initiatives with regard to setting up or up-gradation of industrial training institutes for skill development of the youth of North Eastern States ?

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region [General (Retd.) V.K. Singh]

(a)and (b) No such proposal is under consideration of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region. However, a project proposal “Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Forest Management in Mizoram”, including some components for creating value additions and market linkages had been received from the State Government. The same has been returned to the State Government for necessary compliance.

(c) Initiatives taken for development of railways, telecommunication, roads and power in NE States by the line ministries are as follows :-

i) RAILWAYS:

Twenty major infrastructural projects for new line, doubling and gauge conversion have been sanctioned and ongoing in North Eastern States. These include Ten National Projects. Together these major projects cover a length of 2919 km at a cost of Rs.38310 crore.

ii) TELECOMMUNICATIONS:

Approval for implementation of comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for North East Region (NER) at an estimated project cost of Rs.5336.18 crore for provisioning 2G mobile coverage in identified uncovered areas, seamless 2G mobile coverage along the National Highways in NER and ensuring reliability of and redundancy in the transmission network at State capitals and district headquarters in NER.

iii) ROADS:

Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North East (SARDP-NE) includes upgradation of 10,141 km road stretches of National Highways and State Roads to upgrade National Highways connecting State Capitals to 4 lane or 2 lane and to provide connectivity to all 88 District Headquarter towns of NER by at least 2-lane road.

iv) POWER:

Generation: A generation capacity addition programme of 5596 MW in the North Eastern Region; Transmission:

i) A comprehensive scheme for strengthening of transmission and distribution system in Arunachal Pradesh & Sikkim ;

ii) ‘NER Power System Improvement Project’ for strengthening of Transmission and Distribution system in Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

# Recent Initiatives taken by Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region for the development of infrastructure in North Eastern States under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) in respect of roads are tabulated as under

(i) Under Non-Lapsable pool of Central Resources (NLCPR) Scheme:

	(Rs. in crore) SL.	State	No. of	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15 Value No.	Road	Value	No. of	No. of	Projects	Road Value	Road	Projects	Projects 1	Arunachal	9	145.9	24	355.82	3 34.01	Pradesh 2	Assam	41	393.93	45	572.53	2 20.27 3	Manipur	4	23.45	11	146.13	0 0 4	Meghalaya	4	27.74	3	158.16	2 35.3 5	Mizoram	8	88.29	8	84.09	0 0 6	Nagaland	5	78.63	8	76.54	1 17.05 7	Sikkim	7	127.35	9	122.3	1 15.95 8	Tripura	6	69.49	5	72.11	0 0	TOTAL	84	954.47	113	1587.68	9 122.58 
 

	(Rs. in crore) Sl. No.	State	2012-13	No. of Road Projects	Value 1	Arunachal Pradesh	Nil 2	Assam	1	58.38 3	Manipur	1	147.71 4	Meghalaya	Nil	- 5	Mizoram	1	134.70 6	Nagaland	1	158.31 7	Sikkim	1	29.09 8	Tripura	nil	-	Total	5	528.19