Ansari for proper strategy to tap Arunachal's potential

Itanagar, Nov 27 (UNI) Vice-President Dr Hamid Ansari, who is presently on his maiden tour to Arunachal Pradesh, has advocated for a pragmatic strategy and planning to tap the state's vast potential.

Mr Ansari was of the view that the Planning Commission should change its population-based funding criteria to speed up the development of thinly-populated Arunachal, official sources said here today.

He also advocated priority treatment for this land-locked state, considering its sensitiveness and uniqueness.

The Vice-President, accompanied by Governor Gen (Retd) J J Singh and Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, went to Tawang yesterday and visited the famous Tawang Monastery and paid homage to war heroes of 1962 Chinese aggression at the Korea Brigade War Memorial.

This morning, Mr Ansari went to Kibitho, the last Indian village at Anjaw district along the Indo-Sino border, the sources said.

Before leaving for Kibitho, the Vice-President took part in a plantation programme at the Raj Bhawan here this morning.

''We are adding another green area to the gifted land,'' he said while planting a sapling of Arucaria in the front lawn of the Raj Bhavan.

Yesterday, the Vice-President also played Golf in the course established by the Governor in the Raj Bhawan, the sources added.

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