Arunachal is making tremendous progress in improving air, rail, digital and road connectivity- Pema Khandu
Addressing the 2nd ASEAN-India Youth Summit Pema Khandu said that ‘Arunachal is making tremendous progress in improving air, rail, digital and road connectivity’.
Guwahati
Chief Minister Pema Khandu today attended the 2nd ASEAN-India Youth Summit being held here along with Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio and Tripura CM Biplab Deb.
Speaking at the event organised by India Foundation and Ministry of External Affairs, Chief Minister spoke on the cultural diversity and geographical vastness of Arunachal. He said Northeast is often mistaken as one cultural entity, but even a single state like Arunachal has more than 26 tribes and 100 sub tribes.
Chief Minister said Arunachal is making tremendous progress in improving air, rail, digital and road connectivity. He said earlier Arunachal used to have lowest density of road in the country but now under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, roads are reaching remote corners of the state through different central schemes such as PMGSY etc.
On air connectivity, CM said all seven ALGs built during 1960s have been rebuilt and operationalised. Once airport in Itanagar comes up, the ALGs along with one civilian airport at Tezu will be put to use to start air connectivity services within the state using fixed wing aircraft, said the CM.
On ASEAN-India Youth Summit, CM said the summit should be held as a calendar event and in different locations across the Northeast. He said way forward to such summit is to build greater cultural exchanges and strengthen trade ties.
He said ASEAN region and Northeast having less aerial distance, air service from atleast six airport across Northeast could be connected with ASEAN countries. Speaking to the youths participants from ASEAN countries, CM requested them to visit different parts of Northeast to know the region better.
CM also spoke on the enormous potential of the state offered in the sector of tourism, hydropower, agriculture, horticulture etc. He said state has vast land resources, which are yet to be exploited to its full extent.
Chief Minister later took part in the interactive session on the topic ‘Northeast as India’s Gateway to ASEAN’.
