IMPHAL May 28: The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh has announced 18 hours of daily power supply for all the districts in the State, during a press briefing at the Conference Hall of Secretariat South Block after his meeting with the Chief Minister.
`Northeast is an essential part of Prime Minister`™s Vision to develop all the regions equally. This is already translated with the announcement of the Sports University in Manipur which aims at bringing the mainland closer to the Northeast besides creating more employment for the insiders.` he said.
Towards addressing the power crisis, the Union Minister said the ambitious plan of installing a new 400 kw power station at Thoubal is materializing with a two year deadline.
Most formalities are over and financial aspect is duly decided for a budget of approximately Rs 124 crores, he said.
This should be able to cater 18-hours of power supply to all the districts, he assured.
On the progress of the sports university he said, `According to the Chief Minister, 300 acres of land at Yaithibi has been identified and acquired for the Sports University.`™
He added, this sports university will be unique and the first of its kind in the country.
It is meant to absorb people from other regions and integrate as a nation through closer interactions, he said.
Regarding the connectivity hurdles in the State the Union Minister said, `DoNER being a nodal ministry for all ministries has formed a Committee for Tourism and similarly hopes to establish a Committee for Road, Transport and Highway very soon.`
`We will incorporate the technical inputs that are suggested for the Imphal-Silchar road.`
The Union Minister also pointed out that the intra regional connectivity needs to be revamped.
He further said, `DoNER will consider the feasibility regarding the Chief Minister`™s request for night halt facilities at Tuhilal Airport.
We have also heard and marked the grievances about telecom network problems and related professional hazard, Dr Jitendra said.
Later answering to a query on the disparity between the plans and achievements of DoNER, he diverted the crucial query by detailing the fresh initiatives `DoNER at your doorstep`™ exercise which was supposedly started from Imphal in March this year.