NEW DELHI, 11 Mar: Rajya Sabha member Nabam Rebia has sought relaxation of PMGSY-IV guidelines for Arunachal Pradesh to ensure proper connectivity in the region during a discussion on the working of the ministry of rural development in Rajya Sabha here on Wednesday.
Rebia stated that Arunachal Pradesh, though the largest state in terms of land in the North East, does not have a large population. “The population is scattered in remote areas which sometimes have a population less than 200. As per PMGSY-IV guidelines for the North East Region only those areas that have a population of 250 plus are eligible for road connectivity. Only 84 villages in Arunachal will be eligible for connectivity as per the guidelines while around 200 to 300 villages will be completely left out.”
“Further, the guideline permits cluster approach in respect of Arunachal Pradesh for international border districts by clubbing population within a 10 km path distance and 1.5 km for other districts treating these areas as clusters for eligibility. Despite that a large chunk of habitations will still be unconnected even after PMGSY-IV guidelines,” Rebia added and requested lowering the population criteria down to 100 plus for the state of Arunachal Pradesh in line with Left Wing Extremism (LWE) so that a large number of habitations may be benefitted.
Rebia also hailed the central govt. for allocating adequate funds to the development of the rural populace of the state.
Further, the MP proposed the center for early creation of a Rural Road Economic Corridor to help the state’s horticulture farmers.
While highlighting the state’s potential in producing world quality horticulture produce like kiwi, tea, large cardamom, orange, pineapple, banana, etc, Rebia proposed that by creating such a corridor poor farmers of the state can bring their produce to market and earn good value for their hard work.
