Guwahati, March 30: The BJP today claimed that the Northeast and Assam were put on the growth track during the tenure of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, contrary to the Congress’s claim that the state witnessed rapid development after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power at the Centre.

The BJP announced this along with promises about 35 development issues of the state in a 75-page document — Asom Vision 2025, which was released here today.

“It was the NDA government that not only created the ministry of tribal affairs but also a ministry dedicated to the Northeast — DoNER. It was only after the creation of the ministry that every other ministry is now compelled to spend around 10 per cent of its annual budget for the wellbeing of the region.

Besides, during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure, Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi was conferred with the Bharat Ratna and the Guwahati airport was named after him,” the document said.

Releasing the document, party president Nitin Gadkari said the BJP had a credible track record of concern for the Northeast and promised Assam the state-of-the-art facilities introduced in states ruled by the BJP and its allies, if it comes to power.

“The BJP has a track record of good governance and all the BJP or NDA-ruled states of Gujarat, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh today are ahead on the count of development parameters. The BJP is seeking votes with the promise of providing similar facilities here in Assam,” Gadkari said.

Alleging that the funds allocated to the Northeast went into the coffers of corrupt Congress politicians, he promised to initiate innovative schemes to develop agriculture, agro-industry and stressed the need for a world class road network and a low-cost helicopter service in the region, mainly for promoting tourism.

“We doubt that even 10 per cent of the money released by the Centre for development purposes reaches common people here because of corruption,” Gadkari said.

The vision document promised of schemes successfully implemented in BJP-ruled states, like Soil Health Card Scheme of Gujarat, e-procurement model of Karnataka, computerised public distribution system in Chattisgarh and environment-friendly policies of Himachal Pradesh.

It also promised introduction of latest technologies like GPS, GIS and biometrics, among others, for e-governance systems and mainly to enhance delivery mechanism and combat corruption.

The document was prepared after discussions with experts and prominent local citizens in different fields, essays collected from at least 500 writers and suggestions collected through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Orkut.

It, however, did not cheer the voters, with many saying that although the NDA had taken up many development schemes, it did very little to solve issues like infiltration, insurgency and lack of security.

Hanif Rahman, a resident of Hedayatpur here, said, “Before election every political party makes big promises, but we have seen how the promises remains un-fulfilled after they come to power.