Author: Syed Zarir Hussain
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: May 31, 2003
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/030531/43/24sf2.html
An estimated Rs.10 billion of federal
funds meant for the development of India's northeast goes instead into
the coffers of separatist guerrillas annually, a minister said Saturday.
"We have heard of reports that at
least 10 percent of development funds for the northeastern region goes
into the hands of various militant groups each year," C.P. Thakur, the
central minister for development of northeastern region, told reporters
in this principal city of Assam.
New Delhi earmarked about Rs.100
billion last year for undertaking various development projects in the seven
northeastern states.
The region is home to about 30 separatist
groups with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy and the
right to self-determination. Several of the region's separatist groups
run a thriving extortion racket to purchase weapons and maintain their
cadres.
"The funds that reach the hands
of rebel groups are not everywhere but in some areas only," the minister
said.
"We don't have anything concrete
to substantiate the reports, but then we have been hearing such things
on and off.
"There are even reports that say
people have to pay from their salaries to rebel groups in the region,"
Thakur said.
The Indian government had created
the ministry Thakur heads to speed up development works in the geographically
isolated and economically backward northeast.
"The federal government is working
very seriously to end the problem of insurgency in the region," Thakur
said.
"Through development, we are planning
to tackle the problem of militancy."
The ministry has taken up several
key development projects in the region, focusing on improving the poor
infrastructure facilities and boosting the area's sagging economy.
An estimated 50,000 people have
lost their lives to insurgency in the region since India's independence
in 1947.
