Union Minister of State for Development of North-East Region (DoNER) Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday said his ministry is closely monitoring the progress of the ongoing projects under the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North Eastern Region (PM-DeVINE) at different levels.
He said this in a written reply in Lok Sabha in response to a question by BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh Tapir Gao on the mechanisms in place to ensure timely execution and quality control of the projects under the PM-DeVINE.
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He said the officials of DoNER Ministry/North Eastern Council (NEC) carry out inspections of the selected projects on a regular basis.
The Minister added that projects sanctioned under PM-DevINE are executed by the State governments/implementing agencies (IAs) concerned in the North Eastern Region (NER) and the primary responsibility of monitoring these projects lies with the concerned State governments/IAs.
Majumdar informed that to further strengthen the monitoring mechanism and to ensure quality control of the ongoing projects under the various schemes of DoNER Ministry inter-alia including PM-DevINE, the Project Quality Monitors/Third Party Technical Inspection (PQM/TPTI) Units have been engaged.
“Sanctioning of projects under PM-DevINE requires vetting of the DPR of a project by an institute of repute like IIT, NIT etc and subsequently recommended by SLEC and EIMC. This ensures that the project contains a sustainability plan, targeted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Statutory clearances like environment and forest clearance etc. so that the projects sanctioned under PM-DevINE are sustainable and eco-friendly,” he said.
Projects sanctioned under PM-DevINE include those relating to education, health, tourism, connectivity and livelihood, which directly or indirectly improve employment generation and economic development in the NER, added Majumdar.
