The Centre is planning to fly designated car-go flights to carry essential commodities to the Northeast in view of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.

This was stated by DoNER minister Jitendra Singh on Friday at a detailed review meeting in New Delhi.

Singh had a video conference, while adhering to all the guidelines of social distancing, with officials of DoNER and the North Eastern Council (NEC) in view of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and measures being taken to fight the same in the Northeast.

It was decided that the DoNER ministry or the NEC would provide Rs 25 crore to the northeastern states for gap funding to fight the Covid-19 outbreak effectively.

The meeting was attended by secretary and additional secretary, DoNER ministry, secretary, NEC, and other officers of DoNER and NEC.

At the outset Singh was informed that 100 per cent work of the ministry was on e-office, making it easier to comply with the directions of the government to work from home.

“This fund will be in the nature of untied fund, which can be utilized on any activity relating to the Covid-19 pandemic and not covered under existing central packages. The flexibility of untied funds would enable the states to respond quickly. This fund would be in addition to the funds otherwise allocated by the ministry of DoNER/NEC to the northeastern states under the existing schemes.”