Conrad-led tourism task force for promoting NE as destination as a whole
Shillong, June 3: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the annual plenary session of North Eastern Council (NEC) in Shillong on Thursday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Wednesday.
Chief ministers and governors from all eight North Eastern states will attend the annual event of NEC.
“The (NEC) chairman and our union home minister Amit Shah will be arriving today evening,” Sangma told reporters while informing about the Home Minister’s arrival in Shillong at 9 pm Wednesday.
A key focus of the plenary will be reports from sectoral task forces set up by the Union DoNER Ministry.
“The Union DoNER Minister had put up a task force for different sectors for the North East where he wanted different states to work together,” Sangma said.
He listed tourism, youth, trade, and infrastructure as areas with dedicated panels, each headed by a chief minister with others as members.
“I chair the task force for Tourism and we will be presenting that tomorrow,” he said.
The tourism task force has pushed for a regional approach.
“We have been talking about how NE as a whole can represent itself as a destination as a potential market for tourism not just the states on their own but the region as a whole,” Sangma said.
“This kind of discussions, I expect, will primarily be the main focus tomorrow and to actually see how the reports of the different task forces will be implemented in the days to come,” he added.
Sangma credited the union DoNER minister for driving the process.
“Union DoNER Minister has been very proactive. I expect that we will be having a large kind of consultation and participation regarding major sectors.”
He said additional issues may be tabled by the Centre.
“Apart from that, there are of course other issues which the union home minister and union DoNEr minister will bring up and that we will come to know tomorrow.”
Informing about upcoming engagements with central leaders, he said Union Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda will visit Meghalaya on June 5.
He also informed about Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s upcoming visit to Shillong in the next 10 days, saying, “That is also very important for us.”
Meanwhile, Sangma confirmed his participation in the upcoming NITI Aayog meeting of all chief ministers to be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 11.
