Development of North East Region (DoNER) Minister G Kishan Reddy on Wednesday said that the DoNER Ministry will focus on its role of a coordinator and ensure the developmental process is not impeded because of systemic issues.

Presiding over an interactive session with senior officials of the Union government and state governments of the eight Northeastern states, the minister called upon the senior officials to collectively brainstorm on important themes concerning the development of the Northeast region and accelerate the pace of development.

Reddy called for greater coordination between the central government ministries and state governments, while assuring that the Ministry of Development of North East Region will focus on its role of a coordinator and ensure the developmental process is not impeded because of systemic issues.

Certain key areas such as agriculture, employment generation, skill development, connectivity and infrastructure, social services, including health and education and tourism development called for greater focus, the minister maintained.

The DoNER minister also stressed that his agenda for the next financial year would be to ensure that the funds under 10 per cent GBS are completely and fruitfully utilised, projects are implemented quickly without delays and aligned to the realities of the North East Region.

The newly constituted “Agri-task force” would help in ensuring optimum utilisation of funds and maximum benefit to the people of the region, Reddy said while maintaining that coordination and cooperation of all the state governments would be critical for its success.

States and central ministries must equally focus on social development and employment generation along with a continued focus on infrastructural development, the minister said.

The DoNER minister also called upon all the officers to jointly work on an action plan for the holistic development of the region and complete utilisation of funds.