Development of North Eastern Region
Several initiatives have been undertaken by the Union Government to develop North Eastern Region holistically, especially Assam, for improving basic infrastructure and providing road, rail, water, telecom and air connectivity in the region. These initiatives include new Greenfield Airport at Holongi, Arunachal Pradesh; Dibrugarh Airport, Assam; Imphal Airport, Manipur; Barapani Airport, Meghalaya; New Rail line in Assam such as Sibsagar – Jorhat (length- 62 km); Salona- Khumtai (length- 99 km); Tezpur- Silghat (length- 25 km); Mahisasan (India)- Zero Point (Bangladesh) New Line (length-3 km); New Doubling Rail line in Assam such as Saraighat Bridge doubling line (length- 7 km); Kamakhya-New Guwahati Quadrupling (length-21 km); Doubling of Lumding- Tinsukia Jn-Dibrugarh (length-381 km); Mobile connectivity in Arunachal Pradesh and 2 Districts of Assam at revised cost of Rs. 2029 crore; Mobile Connectivity in uncovered villages in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh and seamless coverage along National Highways; Mobile connectivity in Meghalaya and along National Highways on 2G+4G Technology; Bharat Net and Wi-Fi Connectivity for Village Panchayats in NER; Development of National Waterway-2 (River Brahmaputra, length: 891 km) Sadia to Bangladesh Border and National Waterway-16 (River Barak, length: 121 km); Indradhanush Gas Grid Project covering all NER States; Bio Refinery Plant, Numaligarh, Assam; AIIMS at Guwahati; North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) in six NER States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura; Comprehensive Scheme for Strengthening Transmission and Distribution System in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, etc.
Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has sanctioned 804 projects worth Rs 8504.23 crore till date for development of Assam. The scheme-wise details of these projects are as under:
| Sl. No | Scheme | Projects Sanctioned | |
| No. | Cost (Rs. in crore) | ||
| 1 | North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme(NESIDS) | 26 | 619.99 |
| 2 | Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources-State(NLCPR-State) | 446 | 3875.96 |
| 4 | North East Road Sector Development Scheme-Externally Aided Project (NERSDS-EAP) (Earlier known as North Eastern States Road Investment Project (NESRIP) scheme) | 5 | 679.9 |
| 5 | Special Infrastructure Development Fund (SIDF) | 8 | 103.51 |
| 6 | Special Packages for Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council (DHATC) and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council(KAATC) of Assam | 101 | 1156.34 |
| 7 | Natural Calamity (Flood 2017) | 4 | 101.52 |
| 8 | Schemes of North Eastern Council (NEC) | 214 | 1967.01 |
| Total | 804 | 8504.23 | |
Ministry of DoNER has commissioned the Sector Specific, State specific holistic development plans in sectors like (a) Bamboo (b) Oil Palm (c) Horticulture (d) Handicrafts and Handlooms. These studies have been finalised by NEDFI/IIM Shillong and were circulated to the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Textiles, Concerned NER States and other stakeholders for implementation of the recommendations.
27 DPRs with estimated cost of Rs. 172.36 crore were received in NEC from Assam during the last three years for consideration under Schemes of NEC. All proposals submitted by state governments of NER and other agencies during the last three years (FY 2018-19 to FY 2020-21) could not be sanctioned due to ceiling on normative allocation of the states, budget constraints, etc. As per scheme guidelines of NLCPR, NESIDS, Special Packages, and Natural Calamity, projects are considered by the State Level Empowered Committee (SLEC). Thereafter, Inter Ministerial Committee/ NESIDS Committee/Project Approval Committee considers the recommendations of the SLEC for selection/ sanction of the project. This information was given by The Minister of Development of North Eastern Region, Shri G. Kishan Reddy in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today.