ITANAGAR, May 17: Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) Director Rajender Kumar was on a tour of Arunachal Pradesh from 13 to 16 May, during which he held a coordination meeting at the civil secretariat here with officials of the agencies implementing the schemes under the social justice & empowerment & tribal affairs (SJETA) department in the state.
Kumar reviewed all the schemes implemented under the SJETA funded by the MoTA. He was shown a detailed PowerPoint presentation on all the completed and ongoing schemes sanctioned during 2016-17 and 2017-18.
The MoTA director advocated early submission of the utilization certificates, if there are any pending with the state government.
He also reviewed all the schemes under Article 275 (1) of the constitution, such as the EMRS, SCA to TSS, TRI, pre- and post-matric scholarships, and implementation of the Forest Rights Act and NGO schemes.
When the SJETA commissioner informed him that the pre- and post-matric scholarships for 2018-19 are yet to be released by the union ministry, Kumar said he would take up the matter with the MoTA secretary to ensure early release of the scholarships money. He also informed that the ministry would enhance the honorarium for NGOs.
Later, accompanied by SJETA Director Yumlam Kaha, Kumar inspected various projects on Tuesday and Wednesday at the tribal crafts centre in Poma, the dairy unit in Tarajuli, the fish farms in Rhim Happa, Tani Happa and Emchi, and the goatery unit in Rhim Happa.
The MoTA director interacted with the beneficiaries of ongoing projects at various locations.
Kumar commended the introduction of the geo-tagging system for all schemes before and after the execution of projects, and assured to provide more projects to the state as proposals are recommended by the state government.
Earlier, MoTA Secretary Deepak Khanderkar also visited districts like Papum Pare, Lower Subansiri and East Siang last month, and held meetings with officials of the state government.
