Northeastern states to play leading role in post-COVID India, says Union Minister Jitendra Singh

GUWAHATI: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said Northeastern states are going to play a leading role in post-COVID India and the entire country will look up to the region for avenues of business entrepreneurship, start-up initiatives and livelihood opportunities.

Singh also said that the Northeast has distinguished itself as a model for development and COVID management for the rest of the country.

The Northeastern states are going to play a leading role in post-COVID India and the entire country will look up to the region for avenues of business entrepreneurship and start-up initiatives, he told reporters here.

The Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) appreciated the Northeastern states for taking disciplined, timely and effective measures against the COVID-19 pandemic which have enabled even the impartial agencies to rate the states of the region among the best COVID managed states.

Ever since Narendra Modi took over as prime minister, it was his clear instructions that we have to raise the Northeastern states at par with the more developed states and regions of the country, he said.

Singh, who is on a two-day visit to the region, said in the last seven years, a structured institutionalisation of various sectors was possible because of the high priority given by the prime minister and the same reflected in the form of instant preparedness to meet the sudden challenge posed by the COVID pandemic.

The pace of development has been on such a fast track that when the Modi government came to power in 2014, there were at least three Northeastern states which had never seen a train.

Today, there is a broad gauge rail track being built in all states and they are going to have its first train to Bangladesh, which will take off from Agartala in Tripura.