Special package by PM would help bail Arunachal out: Khandu

Itanagar, Jan 29 (UNI) With only a day left for the proposed visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu hoped that a special package could bail the state out of its financial crisis.

''Since the past three months, we have been urging the Centre to provide a special package and it is the outcome of our efforts that the Prime Minister would be visiting the state,'' the Chief Minister said during a press briefing here yesterday.

He informed that the state government had been urging the Centre to include various new and under-process developmental projects in the proposed special package.

He, however, hinted that the special package might include funds for a 3,000 km inter-district road, connecting all districts of the state, Rs 84 crore package for micro-hydel power projects, rural electrification in 1,798 villages across the state, amounting to Rs 1,000 crores, sanctioning for the greenfield airports for which the Detailed Project Reports had already been submitted to the Centre and enhanced funds for border area development to accelerate developmental work in border areas.

The state government also sought a one time grant of Rs 2,394 crore to complete more than 1,200 schemes still awaiting completion following paucity of funds, besides urging for a speedy solution to the Assam-Arunachal boundary dispute, for which a one-man commission had been set up, the Chief Minister disclosed.

''The long pending problem of the Chakma-Hajong refugees would also figure prominent in the demands forwarded by the state government,'' Mr Khandu informed.

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