Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept 6: Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu today met Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra Singh and discussed the new proposed airport at Itanagar and other upcoming development projects in the State.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by MoS Home, Kiren Rijju who happens to be a Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh. Senior state government officers were also present.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed the Chief Minister that the government is keen to set up first-ever airport in Arunachal Pradesh at the proposed site in the capital city of Itanagar. He said, unfortunately, none of the past governments at the Centre had taken any effective steps to set up the airport and it was only after the Modi government took over that this initiative was undertaken. There were, he said, some technical and budgetary issues, which will be finalised soon and the work will start shortly.
The Chief Minister discussed with the DoNER Minister, one by one, each of the proposed development projects related to roads and buildings, tourism, skill development etc, which had been proposed by the state government in its priority list to the Centre.
Dr Jitendra Singh shared with Pema Khandu, the new guidelines and restructuring recently carried out with relation to Ministry of DoNER and North Eastern Council(NEC), as a result of which, in future, all the central projects in the state will receive 100% funding from Govt of India instead of earlier pattern based on 90:10 pattern wherein 10% contribution was from the State Govt. He assured the Chief Minister that some of the projects proposed by the State Govt, which somehow could not be taken up in the last meeting of the empowered committee, will also be taken up for reconsideration after being revised with certain more inputs and the necessary details.
The Chief Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for generous assistance from the Centre and also appreciated Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for having pro-actively attended to the issues related to connectivity, infrastructural development and flood relief/rehabilitation work in Arunachal Pradesh.