Chandra Kanta Das, Gangmumei Kamei appointed North Eastern Council members

NEW DELHI: Former IAS officer Chandra Kanta Das and academician Prof. Gangmumei Kamei have been appointed as members of the North Eastern Council (NEC), the nodal agency for economic and social development of eight north eastern states.

Their appointments were announced today by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who is the Chairman of NEC. Both Das and Kamei have been appointed for a period of three years, a government release today said.

They will fill in the vacancies that arose following the acceptance of the resignations of earlier NEC members Ashoke K Dutta and M P Bezbaruah, it said.

Chandra Kanta Das superannuated as Chairman of Assam Electricity Board in December 2008 following which he served as Adviser to the Chief Minister, Assam till 2011 and was thereafter actively engaged in public life as a civil society activist.

Prof. Kamei retired as Professor of History, Manipur University, and is widely hailed for his excellence as an educationist and researcher in the subjects related to the north-east.

"They will function as full time non-official members from the NEC headquarters at Shillong," the release said.

Both the members will draw the salary, dearness allowance and perquisites as applicable to a Secretary in the Government of India, it said.

Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, said that shortly a senior IAS officer from the Government of India will be appointed as the new NEC Secretary.

The Council acts as the nodal agency for the economic and social development of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.