New Delhi, June 13 (UNI) The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the proposal of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for the nomination of the Union Home Minister as ex-officio Chairman of North Eastern Council (NEC).
NEC is a statutory body with Governors and Chief Ministers of all the eight North Eastern States as its Member.
The Cabinet also approved that the Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of DoNER would serve as Vice Chairman of the Council.
According to official sources, NEC implements various projects through the state and central agencies.
"Under the new arrangement with Home Minister as Chairman and Minister of DoNER as Vice Chairman, NEC and all the Governors and Chief Ministers of North Eastern States as Member(s) would provide a forum for discussing inter-state matters more comprehensively and also consider common approaches to be taken in future," the official statement said.

The NEC can now also perform the tasks undertaken by the various Zonal Councils to discuss such inter-state issues as drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and ammunition and boundary disputes, sources said.
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