SHILLONG, JUN 3: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive in Shillong at 9 pm Wednesday to chair the North Eastern Council’s annual plenary session on Thursday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said.
“For NEC meeting as you are aware this is an annual affair and the chairman and our union home minister Amit Shah will be arriving today evening,” Sangma told reporters.
“Tomorrow is the main plenary session of the NEC.”
Chief ministers and governors from all eight North Eastern states are attending.
“Of course, all the chief ministers…and governors of the North East are in Shillong. I am sure we will have a constructive meeting,” he said.
A key focus of the plenary will be reports from sectoral task forces set up by the Union DoNER Ministry.
“The Union DoNER Minister had put up a task force for different sectors for the North East where he wanted different states to work together,” Sangma said.
He listed tourism, youth, trade, and infrastructure as areas with dedicated panels, each headed by a chief minister with others as members. “I chair the task force for tourism and we will be presenting that tomorrow,” he said.
The tourism task force has pushed for a regional approach. “We have been talking about how NE as a whole can represent itself as a destination as a potential market for tourism not just the states on their own but the region as a whole,” Sangma said.
“These kinds of discussions I expect will primarily be the main focus tomorrow and to actually see how the reports of the different task forces will be implemented in the days to come,” he added. Sangma credited the union DoNER minister for driving the process.
“Union DoNER Minister has been very proactive. I expect that we will be having a large kind of consultation and participation regarding major sectors.”
He said additional issues may be tabled by the Centre. “Apart from that, there are of course other issues which the union home minister and union DoNEr minister will bring up and that we will come to know tomorrow.” The Chief Minister also flagged upcoming engagements with central leaders. “As I said, beyond that also JP Nadda is also coming very soon on June 5 to Meghalaya so that will also be very important.”
“We will also have the union finance minister also who will be coming in the next 10 days to Shillong. That is also very important for us,” he said.
Sangma confirmed his participation in the upcoming NITI Aayog meeting. “We also have the NITI Aayog meeting where the Prime Minister will be chairing the meeting for all chief ministers of the country which will be held on June 11. I will be going for that meeting also.”
