Shillong Jun 03: Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra Singh chaired a review meeting with officials of the DoNER Ministry and North Eastern Council in New Delhi on Monday.

DoNER secretary, Dr Inderjit Singh, NEC secretary, Ram Muivah also attended the meeting and officials briefed the Minister about the progress made on ongoing projects in the North Eastern Region besides upcoming initiatives and projects to be implemented in the region.

The Minister was informed that Rs 11 crore has been released for the construction of JNU hostel in Delhi for students from the North Eastern Region, the first of its kind hostel in JNU.

The hostel will have 224 rooms and can accommodate 424 students. Out of 224 rooms, 24 rooms have been assigned for Divyang students and the remaining rooms will be occupied by equal number of boys and girls – 200 boys and 200 girls.

The four storey hostel will be built in an area approximately one-and-half acre plot. The construction work will start in the coming weeks. He was also informed that the hostel for North Eastern girl students, inaugurated by Prime Minister in Bengaluru recently, has also become functional.

In addition to these hostels, land acquisition process has started for the Rohini hostel for North eastern students studying in colleges and institutions related to Delhi University and Rs 2.5 crore has been released. The hostel will be built in an area of about 5 acres.

The status of the North Eastern Cultural and Information Centre to be set up at Dwarka in New Delhi was also discussed during the meeting. The estimated cost of the project is about Rs. 50 crore.

The Minister said that this Centre will act as a cultural and convention/information hub of the North Eastern Region in Delhi. It will be constructed at par with the international standards and will have a library-cum-reading room with materials on the North Eastern Region, an art gallery showcasing the North East.

The Minister said that the development of north eastern region has been the priority for the Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

“The Government will make all efforts to implement ongoing development projects in the North East and will take measures to introduce new projects for the benefit of people. Ministers will soon start visiting the North Eastern Region to have a first-hand knowledge and ground realities of the people there,” Singh said.