North-East CMs’ meeting calls for Council overhaul

TILAK RAI

SHILLONG: The North-East Chief Ministers have reteriated that the North Eastern Council (NEC) should be restructuring and the Central funding pattern to the region should be changed to benefit the region. The two-day NE Chief Ministers’ meeting started on Thursday evening at Hotel Pinewood in Shillong. It was a low key affair. Only three CMs — Meghalaya Chief Minister E.K. Mawlong, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Nagaland CMs S.C. Jamir — could attend the opening session of the meeting.

Chief Ministers from Mizoram, Tripura, Arunchal Pradesh, Sikkim and representative from Manipur were absent. Both Tripura and Mizoram Chief Ministers are said to have missed their flight but is expected to attend the second day of the meeting. However, it is not known why the Sikkim Chief Minister could not attend the meeting.

Disinvestment Minister and Minister in-charge of N-E Arun Shourie and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha will be attending the meeting on Friday.