NEW DELHI / AGARTALA, Jan 6 (TIWN): Dr Jitendra Singh released Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) Calender-2016 here in New Delhi on Tuesday. The theme of the Calendar released this year is “Rising North East” which is depicting developing modern North East. The Minister also briefed about the festival “DESTINATION NORTH EAST-2016” which is being organised by the Ministry during 12-14 February, 2016 in New Delhi to showcase the inherent economic, social and cultural strength of the North East Region at National Level.Briefing about the festival “DESTINATION NORTH EAST - 2016”, he said that the main focus of the festival is to bring mainstream India closer to the north east, so that rest of India gets to know about the north east. He said that the Ministry is committed to change the face of north east by the end of this year. The Minister said that the MDoNER is also working for promoting Public Private partnership in north east. He said that the Ministry is also liasoning with other ministries to coordinate the development work in the north east region. He also informed that the north east will be taken in the first phase of skill development programme. Sikkim will soon be declared the first ‘Organic state’ in the country, he added.Dr Jitendra Singh announced the introduction of an exclusive road construction agency for Northeast which would be known as “North-East Road Sector Development Scheme” (NERSDS).

NERSDS would primarily focus on inter-State roads, popularly referred to as “orphan” roads connecting one State with the other and often found to be neglected.Elaborating on the new initiative of DoNER Ministry to develop the road sector, Dr Jitendra Singh said that NERSDS is unique of its kind and perhaps the first of its kind introduced with the primary objective of promoting inter-State roads in the region which were earlier being maintained randomly by different agencies including the North-Eastern Council (NEC).

He said, the first meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for this scheme was held recently in which five neglected inter-State roads were recommended for funding, which include Daimukh-Harmuti Road in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, Tura-Mankachar Road in Assam, Assam portion of Sherkhan-Bagha Bazar Road, Wokha-Merapani-Golaghat Road in Nagaland and Assam and Jamai-Taning Road in Manipu. The National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL) will be the project implementing agency for the road projects undertaken by NERSDS, he informed.

Dr Jitendra Singh said thathe has himself been travelling to Northeast whenever there was a sudden adverse situation or calamity like floods, violence or earthquake. He also mentioned that he visited Manipur yesterday, within hours of an earthquake having struck the region. He said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is keeping a personal track of the development activities in North-Eastern region.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that the MDoNER is responsible for the matters relating to the Planning, Execution and Monitoring of development schemes and projects in the North Eastern Region. Its vision is to accelerate the pace of socio-economic development of the region. He said that the Ministry owns the north east in entirety, going beyond its defined mandate and is ready to contribute in the development of north east in each possible manner.

Shri Naveen Verma, Secretary, MDoNER said that the focus of Ministry is on development of North east. He also said that the upcoming festival will focus on various sectors including tourism, food processing, skill development and variety of culture and cuisines of North East region.

This Festival “DESTINATION NORTH EAST - 2016” will display various facets of North East in its myriad forms and colours through events as the proposed mega events.The event will include theme specific Business Summit consisting of sectors like, Tourism, Agriculture, Food Processing, Skill Development &Entrepreneurship, IT, Handloom & Handicrafts,Livelihood, Micro-Finance and Start ups. The aim of business summit is to attract investment in all Sectors and economic activities.

Stalls are proposed to be set up which shall showcase the best features of North Eastern States/Government Programmes/Scheme operational in the NE Region; andalso gives an opportunity to different sectors to deliver their achievements, issues, constraints and challenges.There will be Cultural Programmes (Music, Dance etc.) and Fashion Show showcasing fabrics of North East in the evening.Food stalls presenting “North Eastern cuisines” would also be set upto make people relish the North Eastern Cuisines.

The Calender-2016, released today, is projecting various buildings and other developmental works carried out in each state of North Eastern Region, with the assistance of Ministry of DoNER. There are 12 photographs showing some of the infrastructure development activities in North Eastern Region under the various schemes of MDoNER. Out of these 12 pictures, 2 each are from Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and 1 each from Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi.

Shri Ram Muivah, Secretary, North East Council and senior officers of the Ministry were also present on the occasion.