This Article is From Jul 18, 2019

Amit Shah To Visit North East Next Month, Will Meet Chief Ministers, Governors

Amit Shah will chair a meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in Guwahati on August 3 and 4.

Amit Shah To Visit North East Next Month, Will Meet Chief Ministers, Governors

Amit Shah is expected to hold separate meeting to take stock of security situation in North East.

New Delhi:

In his first visit to the North East as Home Minister, Amit Shah will meet chief ministers and governors of the eight states for two days next month and would review the security situation and development issues with them.

Mr Shah, 54, will chair a meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in Guwahati on August 3 and 4.

"The home minister will review the progress of various development issues at the NEC meeting," a senior official in the home ministry told NDTV.

Mr Shah is expected to hold a separate meeting to take stock of the security situation in the North East.

The Governors and chief ministers of the eight North Eastern states are members of the NEC, the top advisory body for securing balanced and coordinated development and facilitating effective co-ordination amongst the eight states of the region.

In July, 2018, the NEC has been restructured through the nomination of the Home Minister as Chairman of the NEC and the Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) as the Vice-Chairman.

The NEC was established by North Eastern Council Act, 1971 initially as a top level advisory body for securing balanced and coordinated development and facilitating effective co-ordination amongst seven states of North Eastern Region -- Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

Subsequent to the amendment of NEC Act in December, 2002, Sikkim was added as eight member state, and NEC was mandated to function as a statutory regional planning body for the region.

Since its inception, the NEC has focused on improving connectivity of the region which has been a major bottleneck for all developmental activities.

In its endeavour, the Council has contributed immensely towards the improvement of the inter-state connectivity in the region.

A total of 10,911 kilometres of roads have been constructed with the NEC funding and handed over to the states for maintenance.

The NEC has also undertaken development work in various sectors like education, healthcare, agriculture, horticulture, tourism, industries etc.

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