Arunachal seeks special one-time assistance from Centre amid lack of support from external agencies

Guwahati, Oct. 1: Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Chowna Mein, on Monday urged the Union government to grant funds for development projects, highlighting that there is a lack of support from agencies like the World Bank due to the ongoing border row with China.

The Deputy Chief Minister, on Monday, spoke at a meeting chaired by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Civil Secretariat.

Mein highlighted that the state has been deprived of externally aided projects from organisations like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Mein said, “This not only deprives us of financial benefits but also of the technical knowledge that comes along with externally aided projects which is a big deterrent in our developmental activities.”

Notably, Chowna Mein, who also holds the Finance, Planning, and Investment portfolios, urged Sitharaman for a special one-time assistance of Rs. 2,000 crores for the replacement of about 5,500 dilapidated semi-permanent type (SPT) residential quarters for government officials.

Mein additionally stated, “Most of the SPT residential buildings and official buildings for the government officials were constructed during the NEFA (North-East Frontier Agency) days by the CPWD (Central Public Works Department). It is proposed to replace the dilapidated SPT quarters and district offices with multistoried RCC buildings for accommodating the present strength of state government employees and integrate working of different departments in a single place," he said.

He also said that development will ease the working process, increase efficiency of the district administration, and added that the replacement of the SPT buildings with multistored ones will also retain more government land in the district, for the creation of other important developmental infrastructures.

Speaking on the paucity of resources in the state, Mein urged the Centre for doling out a one-time special assistance.

Mein also urged the Union minister to put an emphasis to the cost disability index while allocating resources among the states, especially the hilly states.

"The state's inhospitable topography, challenging climatic conditions and communication bottlenecks make the cost of creation and maintenance of infrastructure extremely high. It is estimated that the unit cost of service provisioning in the hilly areas is 2.5 times more than the plain area. The cost of construction is escalated not only because of high transportation expenses but also due to non-availability of local skilled and un-skilled manpower," he said.

(With PTI inputs)