Mizoram seeks Centre help for infra development
AIZAWL: Mizoram Chief Minister, Mr Lal Thanhawla on Tuesday urged the Centre to ‘liberally’ come to the help of small and poor states in the region in infrastructure development which has to be almost entirely borne through public investment.
Inaugurating the workshop on NER Vision 2020 organised by the North Eastern Development Financial Corporation Ltd (NEDFI) here, Mr Lal Thanhawla said that some of the thumb rules applied for funding infrastructure development projects must be amended in relation to backward states such as Mizoram as cost of any project in remote hill areas is 15 – 25 per cent more than what lies in the developed plains.
He called upon the Centre to be ‘liberal’ in such assistance for infrastructure growth.
Undeveloped states such as Mizoram are entangled in a vicious circle, he said. “There is no investment because there is no infrastructure, and there is no infrastructure because there is no investment.”
The ratio of credit to NSDP is 9 in Nagaland and about 11 in Mizoram as against the national average of 62, the Chief Minister said.
Similarly, the ratio of bank account per 100 persons is around 38 per cent in the North East while the national average is above 50 per cent, Mr Lal Thanwala lamented. – PTI
