STATE TIMES NEWS
IMPHAL: On the first day of his two-day visit to the State of Manipur, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh on Monday announced the launch of, the first of its kind, “Hill Area Development Programme” (HADP) for Northeast.
Dr Jitendra Singh was addressing a meet of Investors and Entrepreneurs, organised by NEDFI (North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd), with joint participation of the Union Ministry of DoNER and the Government of Manipur represented by Chief Minister, N Biren Singh, State Commerce and Industry Minister, Biswajit Singh and other senior State functionaries. Secretary NEC Ram Muivah and a large number of prominent prospective entrepreneurs were present on the occasion.
Elaborating on the new scheme, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the hilly areas of Manipur, Tripura and Assam have a distinct geo-physical entity and are lagging in socio-economic development. As a result of peculiar topography, he said, there is a wide gap between the hill and valley districts in terms of infrastructure, quality of roads, health and education etc. The Hill Development Programme, he said, is inspired with a serious research and deliberation of all these factors.
As far as State of Manipur is concerned, Dr Jitendra Singh observed that hill areas are less developed compared to the plain areas. Not only this, he cited figures to state that out of 80 districts of Northeast, 3 districts of hilly areas, which ranked lowest in the composite district infrastructure index, belonged to Manipur and these were namely, Tamenglong, Chandel and Churachandpur.
The Hill Area Development Programme, Dr Jitendra Singh said, is aimed at giving a focused attention to the lesser developed areas hilly areas and will be initiated on a pilot basis in the hill districts of Manipur.
Earlier, soon after his arrival here today, Dr Jitendra Singh participated in a programme to mark the 3 years of the completion of the Modi Government. He also distributed free LPG connections to the needy women under “Ujjawala” scheme.
