<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said, there has been a substantial improvement in the security situation in the North Eastern region in the past four years. </div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br />''</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Addressing the 67th Plenary Session of the North Eastern Council, NEC, in Shillong today, Mr. Singh said, insurgency-related incidents have declined 85 per cent while civilian and security forces casualties decreased 96 per cent. </div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br />''</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">The Home Minister said, Tripura and Mizoram are completely free from the insurgency. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has been completely lifted from Meghalaya and its coverage area has been limited to Arunachal Pradesh.</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br />''</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Mr. Singh urged the North-Eastern states to expedite work on long pending projects. He said, the NEC and the eight North-Eastern States need to ensure that all the ongoing projects are completed in a time-bound manner. </div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br />''</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Mr. Singh asked states to effectively implement recently approved 4,500 crore rupees central package. </div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br />''</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">The Home Minister also said, the Union Cabinet, in March this year, approved the North East Industrial Development Scheme, 2017 with an outlay of 3,000 Crore rupees up to March, 2020. </div>''<div class="yj6qo" style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"></div>