Agartala: Union Minister of Development of North East Region Gangapuram Kishan Reddy on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that the budget for the Northeast region has nearly doubled in the last eight years since the NDA government came to power.
Responding to a question raised by Tripura Rajya Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb regarding the share of North East Council funds, the Minister said, “When the Modi government came to power, the budget for the Northeast was around Rs 36,000 crore and today the budget is 68,000 crore.” Deb sought to know whether Tripura had been receiving the entire 12 per cent share of funds entitled to the state.
Replying to Deb, Reddy said, “This is a fact that Tripura is entitled to get 12 per cent of the total NEC share based on the population of the state. The total funds earmarked for the NEC are divided into two parts. The 30 per cent share of the funds is reserved for backward areas, and 60 per cent of the funds are distributed among the states. Tripura’s share in terms of the population stands at 12 per cent.”
The Minister also explained that to get funds to the optimum level, the state also needs to perform well in the development indices. “The NEC provided funds based on the projects. We try to sanction big projects for the state and once the completion report is submitted, the new projects are sanctioned with the allocation of additional funds,” he said.
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The Union Minister said that not only the budgets have increased almost two-fold, but the region has also seen better connectivity by means of roadways, airways, railways and by water.
“After BJP came to power, the politics of Northeast has also become stable, acting as a catalyst for the development,” he said.
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