New 'DONER' Minister Jitender Singh assumes charge, calls meeting of North-East CMs

The Chief Ministers whom Dr. Jitendra Singh addressed individual letters include Nabam Tuki of Arunachal Pradesh, Tarun Gogoi of Assam, Okram Ibobi Singh of Manipur, Mukul Sangma of Meghalaya, Lal Thanhawla of Mizoram, T.R. Zeliang of Nagaland, Pawan Chamling of Sikkim and Manik Sarkar of Tripura. The Minister also wrote a similar letter to each of the Governors of eight North-Eastern States, namely Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Nirbhay Sharma of Arunachal Pradesh, Janaki Ballabh Patnaik of Assam, Dr. Krishan Kant Paul of Manipur, Meghalaya & Mizoram, Padmnabha Acharya of Nagaland & Tripura and Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil of Sikkim.

Earlier, as a follow-up to the Cabinet expansion and reallocation of the ministerial portfolios by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh today formally took charge of the Ministry of “Development of North-Eastern Region” (DONER). He was greeted by senior officers of the Ministry led by Secretary DONER R. Vijaykumar on his arrival at the Vigyan Bhawan Annexe office of the Ministry.

Dr. Jitendra Singh has now been redesignated as Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of “Development of North-Eastern Region” (DONER), Minister of State in PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy & Space.

Talking to media after assuming the new charge, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the development and concern of North-East is high on the agenda of the present government and he was conscious of the faith and responsibility that the Prime Minister had reposed in him by entrusting this charge to him.

The eight States of North-East have their own peculiarities and adversities, said Dr. Jitendra Singh and added that there was also a perception among the people of the region that they were not getting the deserved attention. He said, he will work to ensure that the pace of progress and development in North-East is the same as that in the rest of the country.