New Delhi/UNI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will grace the golden jubilee celebration of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in the capital of Meghalaya, Shillong on December 18, a statement said here on Saturday.

He will address an official meeting of the NEC as well as a public meeting on the occasion, the Ministry of Development for North-East Region (DoNER) said.

The official meeting of the Council will be held at the State Convention Centre auditorium while the public meeting will be organised at the Polo Grounds in Shillong, it said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, DoNER Ministers, Governors and Chief Ministers of the North Eastern states, Central Ministers belonging to the North Eastern Region, local MPs and MLAs and nominated Members of the NEC will also attend the celebration, it added.

Besides, the state Chief Secretaries, selected Secretaries of Central Ministries, senior officers from the North Eastern states and heads of the iconic Institutions set up with support from the NEC have also been invited, the release said.

For the public meeting, besides the local population, prominent citizens, achievers, representatives of Self Help Groups (SHGs), Farmers’ Groups from all the eight states of the region will also be in attendance. Presence of approximately 10,000 people is expected at the public meeting, it said.

The NEC was established by an Act of the Parliament in 1971. It was formally inaugurated on November 7, 1972 at Shillong, and completed 50 years in November 2022.

During the 70th Plenary meeting at Guwahati in October 2022, which was held under the chairmanship of the Home Minister and Chairman NEC, it was decided that this important milestone of the NEC would be celebrated in a befitting manner.

Accordingly, the golden jubilee celebration of the NEC is being held in Shillong on December 18.

During the day, the Prime Minister will inaugurate various important projects of the North Eastern Region including Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Shillong, NEC projects and Meghalaya state projects and lay foundation stones for some other projects. He will also dedicate 4G towers of Meghalaya, the statement said.

The 'Golden Footprints', a commemorative volume chronicling NEC’s contribution towards the development of the North Eastern region over the last fifty years, will also be released during the event.

The contents of this book have been gleaned from the Archives of the Council and from the official records of the eight member states of the Council besides capturing in colour the iconic infrastructure and development works supported by the NEC in the recent past.

The celebration is expected to provide a new platform for the NEC to deliver even better in the days to come and to spearhead more development initiatives as has been done effectively in the last five decades across the eight North Eastern states.