Apang turns press meet into class room upon Shinde's faux pas

New Delhi, Sep 22 (UNI) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang today turned a press meet here into a class room and virtually gave a lecture on the geography and natural resources of his state following a slip of the tongue by Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.

The press meet had been called to announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the state and the central power generating companies -- NTPC, NHPC, NEEPCO.

Giving details about the MOU, Mr Shinde first referred to Arunachal Pradesh as ''Arunachalam'' before quickly correcting himself to mention the northeastern state correctly.

This gave an opportunity for Mr Apang to give vent to his bottled up resentment over years over the lack of awareness about Arunachal Pradesh.

Citing several instances when Arunachal Pradesh was misunderstood, he said a number of mails meant for his state had gone to Andhra Pradesh (as both the states had ''AP'' as their acronym) before reaching his state.

There have also been cases of Arunachal Pradesh being misunderstood as a foreign country as the state is surrounded by three nations (Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh), he said.

The Chief Minister also made it a point to refer to the faux pas by Mr Shinde, evoking a loud laughter from the gathering, and went about explaining the natural wealth and the different climate zones of the state before coming to the subject on hand -- the MOU for establishing an additional hydro power generation capacity of 15,000 MW.

Arunachal Pradesh was not the only state which was less known. In fact, it was the case with almost all the seven states of the North-East, known as seven sisters, he said.

He, however, several times referred to India as a beloved motherland and his state's desire to help power-deficit states, particularly Delhi.

Mr Apang said he would meet Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and reach an understanding for the sale of surplus power in his state to the national capital, whose demand for electricity was growing at a rapid pace in view of largescale migration.

He also wanted the Union Power Ministry to establish a North-Eastern Power Grid and link it to the National Power Grid so that the surplus power in the region could be transported to needy states.

UNI RT/SN HS VV1755