By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
Itanagar : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday announced a whopping Rs.11 billion financial package for the frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh with maximum emphasis on infrastructure development and electrification in rural areas, besides putting the state on India’s railway map.
“In the next two years, all villages in border areas (with China, Bhutan, and Myanmar) will get electricity connection through solar power involving an amount of Rs.5.5 billion,” Manmohan Singh told a public rally in capital Itanagar attended by about 20,000 people.
The prime minister arrived in the capital on a two-day state visit, the first prime minister to visit the state in the last one decade.
Manmohan Singh said the central government had prepared a roadmap for overall development of the state and was committed to developing the frontier region in all sectors.
“As a step forward to improving connectivity, we have decided to set up a greenfield airport in Itanagar, besides making operational small airports in four other district headquarters,” the prime minister said.
A daily helicopter service between Assam’s main city of Guwahati and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China’s Tibet region, would also be introduced soon, the prime minister said.
“Considering the fact that road connectivity is a major problem, we have decided to construct a 1,840-km Trans-Arunachal Highway from Tawang and cutting through the entire state for better surface communication.”
All villages would be connected to motorable roads and the capital Itanagar would have a four-lane highway, while each district headquarter would have a two-lane road, the prime minister said. Some 500 villages that do not have accessibility would now have road connectivity.
The prime minister also announced a Rs.5 billion package for flood protection, aimed at constructing embankments and other measures.
“I am also happy to announce Rs.100 million for the Ramakrishna Mission Hospital in Itanagar, besides Rs.770 million for a drinking water supply scheme for 80,000 people in and around Itanagar,” he said.
“Each and every village in the state will now have facilities for pure drinking water.”
The prime minister had earlier inaugurated two power projects – the 3,000 MW Dibang multipurpose project and the 110 MW Pare hydroelectric project at Doimukh on the outskirts of the state capital, besides laying the foundation stone for a permanent complex of the state legislative assembly and the civil secretariat.
“Arunachal Pradesh will soon emerge as India’s powerhouse if the potentials are harnessed,” Manmohan Singh said.
The prime minister also initiated the process of bringing the state into the country’s railway map by laying the foundation stone of the line that will connect Itanagar to the nearest railhead, Harmoti in Assam.
In his public address, Manmohan Singh refrained from talking about the controversial border row with China. He is visiting army bases in the state Friday before leaving for New Delhi.
The mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,030-km unfenced border with China. The India-China border along Arunachal Pradesh is separated by the McMohan Line, an imaginary border now known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The two countries fought a bloody border war in 1962, with Chinese troops advancing deep into Arunachal Pradesh and inflicting heavy casualties on Indian troops.
The border dispute with China was inherited by India from British colonial rulers, who hosted a 1914 conference with the Tibetan and Chinese governments that set the border in what is now Arunachal Pradesh.
China has never recognised the 1914 boundary, known as the McMahon Line, and claims 90,000 square km – nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh. India also accuses China of occupying 8,000 square km in Kashmir.