Arunachal urges Centre for 'Peace and Green' bonus

Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, Nov 9 (UNI) Arunachal Pradesh today urged the Centre to grant 'Peace and Green Bonus' for their endeavours to maintain peace and tranquility besides preserving forest in its virgin form.

Speaking here at the 8th Buddha Mahotsava celebration, Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu urged External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for granting funds as peace and green bonus.

''Arunachal Pradesh is the only state in the North-East which has maintained peace and tranquility in all the districts. The Centre should allocate funds to the state as 'peace bonus' like Mizoram to accelerate the pace of development'', he said.

He further said, 81 per cent of the state was under forest cover and it was one of the major sources of revenue for the state till 1996.

However, as per the directive of the Supreme Court in 1996, the state government banned timber operation which resulted in the loss of revenue worth over thousand crores, he added.

''The Centre should grant this amount as 'Green Bonus' to the state so that the state government could implement the sixth pay commission's recommendations to allay the problems of the government employees'', he urged.

In reply, Mr Mukherjee assured to convey the message to the Prime Minister and other authorities for necessary action.

Mr Khandu also submitted a 16-point memorandum addressing various issues of the state.

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