A review meeting of all projects and schemes funded under the Ministry of DoNER and North Eastern Council was held yesterday at Aijal Club under the chairmanship of Dr. Inder Jit Singh Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDONER). The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Pu Lalnunmawia Chuaungo, Secretaries and Heads of Offices of all Departments who are currently implementing such projects. Senior officials of the Ministry and NEC were also present at the meeting.

Making the opening remarks Dr. Inder Jit Singh said the purpose of his visit was not to inspect or find faults but rather to know more about Mizoram on the ground, understand what was happening and discuss with officials how best, can development be enhanced so that Mizoram can improve its ranking in the Sustainable Development Goal India Index and other such indices. The ranking of Mizoram at rank 21 with a score of 56 in the latest SDG India Index 2019 was a cause of concern he said but expressed hope that with committed stakeholders at various levels, the 16 sustainable development goals will show marked improvements very soon. He said the Ministry was open to discussions on how to improve Mizoram’s ranking so that it can surpass the national scores and top the list. He added that Mizoram’s rank in Zero Hunger and Zero Poverty in SDG Index were admirable but other goals such as education and health were a challenge.

He pointed that the low utilization of the 10 percent of GBS of Ministries which was earmarked for the development of the region by state governments in the North East was a major cause of concern and highlighted the pertinent issues linked with the low utilization of resources and suggested steps to overcome the gap. The slow pace of implementation of some projects needs to be examined as delay in completion of projects questions credibility, he said. He stressed on qualitative improvements and urged officials to make proposals on tea, bamboo, pisciculture , animal husbandry and tourism on a large scale for the holistic development of the state. Funding will not be a problem for sound proposals, he added. He also remarked that proposals need to be vigorously pursued and followed upon with concerned Ministries.

The Chief Secretary, Pu Lalnunmawia Chuaungo in his remarks said that Mizoram was trying its best to keep up the developmental pace with the rest of the country and thanked the Ministry for their support in this endeavour. He expressed hope that the review meeting and interaction will pave a new course for developmental projects and improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Joint Secretary, MDONER Shri Saurabh Endley praised the Planning Department’s performance and promptness in getting approvals for projects and said that Mizoram’s utilization from the normative allocation was almost equal to that of Assam.

Planning & Programme Implementation Secreatary Dr. C Vanlalramsanga a presented the status of various projects being funded by the Ministry and NEC and highlighted the issues and challenges.