Govt bridging Delhi, NE gap: PM

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that his government is connecting the Northeast with the trinity of “Emotion, Economy and Ecology”, while emphasising that in the last decade, the government worked tirelessly to reduce the distance between Delhi and the people of Northeast.

Inaugurating the “Ashtalakshmi Mahotsav” in the national capital to celebrate the vibrancy of Northeast, the Prime Minister said that the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first to create a dedicated ministry for the region and also earmarked a 20 per cent budget of every ministry for its development.

He said that during the last decade his government tried to reduce the feeling among people about the gap of Delhi and ‘Dil’ with the Northeast. “Union ministers made 700 visits to the Northeast in the last decade and have spent a long time with the people there that has created an emotional connection between the government and the Northeast and its development,” he said.

Asserting that previous governments weighed development to votes, he said that the progress of the Northeast was not given much emphasis earlier due to fewer population and votes in the region.

“In the last decade, we have seen a wonderful journey of the development of the Northeast but it was not easy. We have taken every possible step to connect the Northeastern states with India’s growth story. For a long time, we have seen how development was weighed against votes. Northeastern states had less votes and low seats so previous governments did not pay attention to the development of the region,” the Prime Minister said.

Noting that the government had started many special schemes for the Northeast like PM-DevINE, Special Infrastructure Development Scheme and North East Venture Fund, Modi said that these schemes had created many new employment opportunities.

He noted that the government had also started the ‘Unnati Scheme’ to promote the industrial potential of the Northeast and said that when a better environment is created for new industries, new jobs would also be created.

Pointing out that the semiconductor sector was new for India, the Prime Minister said that the government chose Assam to give impetus to this new sector. He added that when such new industries are set up in the Northeast, investors from the country and the world would explore new possibilities there.

“We are connecting the Northeast with the trinity of Emotion, Economy and Ecology”, Modi said, adding that the government was not just building infrastructure in the Northeast, but also laying a strong foundation for the future.

Remarking that the biggest challenge for the Northeast was connectivity with lack of train facilities to many states, the Prime Minister Modi said that their government focused a lot on physical infrastructure and social infrastructure after 2014. “This led to tremendous improvement in both the quality of infrastructure and the quality of life of the people in the Northeast. The government also accelerated the implementation of projects pending for many years,” he said.

The Prime Minister stressed that the youth of the Ashtalakshmi states are a great priority of the Government of India and they have always wanted development.

Emphasising that there was an unprecedented public support for permanent peace seen in every state of the Northeast in the last decade, Modi said that it was due to the efforts of the central and state governments, thousands of youth had left the path of violence and adopted a new path of development.

He pointed out that in the last decade, many historic peace agreements have been signed in the Northeast and the border disputes between the states had also progressed in a very cordial manner. “This has reduced the cases of violence in the Northeast to a great extent. Adding that AFSPA had been removed from many districts. Together, we should write a new future for Ashtalakshmi and the government is taking every step for this,” Modi said.