“I am confident that with considerate approach and active support of the Union Government, people of Arunachal Pradesh will witness an era of rapid development this New Year” – Pema Khandu, CM, Arunachal Pradesh.
New Delhi
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu accompanied by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju called on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here at national capital today as a follow up of his meeting with Prime Minister of India during December last.
Khandu while briefing the FM on the initiatives undertaken by his government to improve governance with an endeavour to put in place a mechanism for an accountable and efficient delivery of services to the citizens said that the people of Arunachal Pradesh have already seen a palpable change in the policies and approach of the Union government towards the North Eastern region under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji.
“I am confident that with considerate approach and active support of the Union Government, people of Arunachal Pradesh will witness an era of rapid development this New Year” Khandu said.
CM expressed the impending need of a comprehensive package being prepared for addressing the critical infrastructure gaps. He sought resources for creating new infrastructure for the administrative centres in place of NEFA day’s structures that have long outlived its utility. Transmission lines, social infrastructure of Health and Education were also part of the package considering the fact that several new districts including two divisional headquarters have been established.
Reiterating his request, CM Khandu sought Finance Minister’s personal support in early commencement of construction work for the civil airport at Hollongi, construction of a Frontier Highway which is under active consideration under Ministry of Home Affairs, East-West Industrial Corridor in the foothills, water supply plan, enhancement of SDRF and NDRF grants to the State with special relaxation and change in modalities of expenditure, establishment of a cantonment based at Itanagar as assured by Raksha Mantri during her last visit to the state capital and release of one time grant of Rs. 1060 Crs for several crucial unfinished centrally sponsored schemes which have now been delinked such SPA, Product Infrastructure Development for Destinations and Circuits, JNNURM etc.
“We are grateful that the smart city project for Pasighat has been approved and Itanagar also has been shortlisted under the scheme. However, we need to revisit the modalities of implementation and have a 90:10 sharing between Centre and the states as is the case for other centrally sponsored schemes” Khandu said.
Apprising that the mismatch in FFC recommendation and actual release is a major cause of concern for a resource constraint state like Arunachal Pradesh, CM prayed that the fund allocation as per the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission be kindly released at the earliest.
While stating that the state of Arunachal Pradesh has limited resources and therefore unable to fund some very critical infrastructure, Khandu informed FM that the state further does not have access to international and multilateral funds from organisations such as World Bank, ADB etc. for reasons of geopolitics. He therefore sought Jaitley’s benevolent indulgence for taking the development trajectory of Arunachal Pradesh at par with the rest of the States.
Arun Jaitley assured all possible support to Arunachal Pradesh. Khandu later also met expenditure secretary Ajay Narayan Jha on the advice of Union Finance minister and discussed matters relating state finances.
