KANUBARI, Jan 6: Kanubari MLA Gabriel D Wangsu on Friday inaugurated three villages in Kanubari subdivision of Longding district.
Accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Vikram Singh Malik and other officers, the MLA formally declared Wunli-Rzu, Pamting-Rzu and Tingzen Rzu as new villages after completion of all social formalities by the village authorities.
Addressing the inaugural function, the MLA called upon the village authorities and leaders to encourage people to settle down in the foothill areas to get rid of the hardships of life in the hilly areas.
“In an area where water is severely scarce, there is little that can be done other than creating new settlements and villages to bring down the cost of development and, more specifically, for sustainable development,” he said.
“We had suffered enough and it is time we worked together to ease life,” Wangsu said, while advising the villagers to start settled farming in the foothill areas.
“It is a record of sorts that three villages could be inaugurated in a single day. You all had heeded to my advice to settle down after leaving the ancestral village and therefore, it is my responsibility to take care of your basic requirements,” Wangsu said.
Responding to the call of the new villages for a link road, water facility and other infrastructure to ease the process of human settlement, Wangsu promised to fulfill their demands.
The DC on his part lauded the efforts of the villagers and underscored the need to find greener pastures in the foothills for better life.
“Villagers must adopt new technologies for improved production and better yields,” Malik said.
Kanubari EAC N Borang, public leader Panjam Wangsa and others also addressed the function, which was also attended by Panwang Wangham, the paramount chief of Banfera.
Later, the MLA distributed CGI sheets and PVC water tanks, besides utensils and agriculture implements, contributed by the district’s HoDs, to more than 30 villagers.
Earlier in the day, the MLA, accompanied by the DC, HoDs, and public leaders, trekked down from Banfera village to formally switch on the power supply to Pamting-Rzu village.
More than 30 families of Banfera have shifted to the new villages and many more are likely to follow suit in the next few months, mostly all along the Trans-Arunachal Highway, in search of water and better sustenance.
All the new villages are off-shoots of Banfera (Runu), the paramount village of Kanubari block. (DIPR)
