SHILLONG, OCT 18: A bill for restructuring the North Eastern Council (NEC) will be introduced during the winter session of Parliament. Among other things, it proposes to include Sikkim as a member of the council, which currently comprises the seven north-eastern states.At present, all the governors and chief ministers of the seven states are NEC members. Under the proposed restructuring, only the chief ministers would be council members. The deputy chairman of the Planning Commission would be the NEC Chairman, a post which is now held by rotation by the governors of the seven members. The announcement regarding the reorganisation of the NEC was made yesterday at the 42nd meeting of the council being held in Shillong.Besides Prasad, Tripura Governor Siddheshwar Prasad, Meghalaya Governor M.M. Jacob and Nagaland Governor O.P. Sharma were present. Chief ministers of all the states except Mizoram also attended.The meeting also decided to form a steering committee with planning secretaries of all theseven states as members, and the NEC secretary as its chairman.The steering committee would look into schemes for equal distribution of funds to the north-eastern states.According to a report placed before the meeting, the annual plan allocation of the council has been increased from Rs 294 crore to Rs 471 crore for 1998-99.
