| Arunachal Pradesh |
Rs 10,000-cr package makes 2008 a watershed year for Arunachal Pradesh
With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announcing in January a huge Rs 10,000-crore economic package for the state, 2008 will go down as a watershed year for Arunachal Pradesh.
The package includes a greenfield airport, a 1,800-km trans-Arunachal highway connecting all 13 district headquarters of the state, a broad guage rail link and a four-lane road network.
According to Governor J J Singh, work on the projects will start early next year and will be completed in a time-bound manner.
Singh, who is a former chief of the Army, was appointed in January just before the PM`s visit to the state.
He is monitoring the implementation of the projects in liaison with the Prime Minister`s Office (PMO).
Work on the broad gauge rail link and the four-lane road network is currently going on. Construction of a massive 3,000-km inter-district road network will be taken up soon.
With the largesse from the Centre, the ruling Congress is hoping to enjoy a distinct edge over its main rival, the BJP, in the Assembly and Parliamentary polls due next year.
The opposition BJP, however, is claiming that the PM`s bonanza was a result of the work put in by the two "dynamic" BJP Lok Sabha MPs from the state, Kiren Rijiju and Tapir Gao.
Incidentally, in June last year, eight of the nine BJP MLAs in the state defected to the ruling Congress claiming that the BJP was not working in the interest of the state`s people.
The state is also seemingly stable on the political front now with Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu appearing to be in control as there are no discernible dissident activities.
Khandu is now pressing the Centre to give Arunachal a "peace" and "green" bonus for being a peaceful state and for having 82 percent forest cover.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has strongly supported the demand saying the state deserved the bonus and said he would pursue it.
If granted, Arunachal will perhaps become the only state in the country to get this status.
The recent agitation by state government employees for revised pay package as per the 6th Pay Commission recommendations came as an opportunity for the opposition to corner the CM in the election year, but Khandu got the agitation called off by agreeing to the revised pay from the New Year with reduced arrears.
There was no major law and order problem in 2008 except for the murder of two young sisters and kidnapping of a son of former Chief Minister Gegong Apang. The cases were solved and Apang`s son was rescued.
Reports of kidnapping of youths from Tirap, one of the two districts declared disturbed under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act because of activities of underground elements from neighbouring Nagaland and Assam, were occasionally reported.
The undergrounds reportedly provide arms training in their camps in Myanmar the kidnapped youths.
Towards the end of the year, Mukherjee, declared `no power can snatch Arunachal or any part of it` removing fear among locals following China`s claim on the state.
Bureau Report |
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