N-E States' forum to bargain with Centre

By Our Special Correspondent

SHILLONG, MAY 13. The meeting of the northeastern Chief Ministers held here on Friday to evolve a common approach to issues of common interest, resulted in the setting up of a `Forum of Chief Ministers of Northeastern States', which includes Sikkim.

The forum will give an organisational shape to the joint efforts of the seven Chief Ministers for ``fostering better understanding'' for regional cooperation and development, ``with a view to jointly taking up issues of common interest and concern with the Centre''.

The Assam Chief Minister, Mr. P.K. Mahanta, will be the convener of the forum which will function from Guwahati.

The significance of the meeting and the forum is that for the first time the northeastern States are coming together - on a long-term basis - to extract a better deal from the Centre on development issues. The meeting reviewed the fiscal position and the crippling debt burden of the northeastern States and their impact on development in the context of the economic package announced by the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee.

It was decided that the forum would jointly move the Centre for debt relief, waiver of outstanding Central dues and reversion to the pre-1989 position for bridging the revenue gap through additional Central assistance. The Chief Ministers also urged the Centre to recognise the problem of insurgency as a national one and adopt suitable measures for an immediate solution.

The second meeting of the Chief Ministers would be held in Delhi on May 21 immediately after the Inter-State Council meeting to draft a joint memorandum which will be submitted to the Prime Minister by the middle of June.

Later, at a press briefing, the Chief Ministers were asked to explain why they wanted the Centre to treat insurgency as a national problem since the Centre had already done so and agreed to reimburse the insurgency-related expenditure to the States concerned.

The Tripura Chief Minister, Mr. Manik Sarkar, said though law and order was a State subject, the insurgency problem stretches beyond the country's borders as insurgents were taking shelter in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Mayanmar. Also, their aim was secession.

The direct involvement of the Centre was necessary not only to police the long international borders of the region - Tripura has 856 km of ``completely porous'' border with Bangladesh - but also to interact with the neighbouring countries from whose soil the terrorists were operating, Mr. Sarkar said.

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