PM announce Rs 1000 crore package for Arunachal

Itanagar, Jan 30 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced infrastructure projects worth Rs 1000 crores for Arunachal Pradesh while becoming the first premier to visit the frontier state in the past 12 years.

Dr Singh inaugurated the Rs 110 crore Daimukh Hydel Project on the outskirt of the city and laid the foundation stone of a major road project connecting this sensitive state, which China consistently refuses to acknowledge as part of India.

The projects include the 3,000 MW Debang Multi Purpose Hydro Electricity Project, the largest in the country to be executed by the NHPC.

Dr Singh also laid the foundation stone of the Harmoti-Itanagar railway line putting the state on India's railway map.

He visited the Ramakrishna Mission Hospital here which is treating people from not only Arunachal Pradesh but also from neighbouring Assam for the past 27 years.

The prime minister also formally inaugurated the Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, the ruling Congress's headquarters, and unveiled a statue of Indira Gandhi besides, laying the foundation stone of the Assembly and Secretariat complex.

His visit, the first after former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's 1996 visit, is important in the message being conveyed to China, which has consistently refused to recognize Arunachal as an integral part of India.

The appointment of former Army Chief General J J Singh as Governor of Arunachal Pradesh and plans to build a trans-Arunachal highway signal that India is taking a cautious approach to the border dispute, while remaining at the negotiating table with China.

UNI AB-MT PL KLC1618