The Arunachal Times - Archives

Explore sustainable income generation sources: CM

Chillipam Gompa inaugurated

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: Situated atop the hill at Chillipam village-15 Kms away from Rupa, the majestic Sang-Ngag Choekar Dargyeling Monastery, more commonly known as Chillipam Gompa, was inaugurated and consecrated today. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu participated in the ceremony as chief guest during his short tour to West Kameng district.

He was accompanied by Chairman Pollution Control Board T Norbu, MLAs Phurpa Tsering, Kumsi Sidisow, Former MP Kiren Rijiju, Secretary Planning Ankur Garg and West Kameng, DC and SP during the programme.

While addressing the gathering which included some foreign nationals also, Khandu lauded the Zangdokparli Foundation led by Ven. Dungse Rigdzin Dorje Rinpoche for establishing the monastery amid serene surroundings.

The monastery, he said will surely attract a large number of pilgrims as well as tourists from far and wide.

While taking forward his mission towards preservation of wildlife, Khandu appealed the local people to abstain from hunting practices. He viewed that since the nature is mingled and dependent to each other, the human being should shun killing of animals and also put on efforts to regenerate the lost forest.

“Supreme Court’s ban on timber operation in the state in 1996 should be welcomed and taken as a challenge”, Khandu emphatically said and added further that sustainable income generation source needs to be explored through horticulture, medicinal plants and non forest based products like cane and bamboos.

Taking opportunity of the gathering, the chief minister appealed for mass education on dreaded and infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, Swine flu etc. which is already treated as pandemic round the globe.

He also opined that the monastic institutions should uphold the essence of Buddha’s Sangha and abstain themselves from politicking.

Speaking as guest of honour MLA T Norbu extended his gratitude to all the well wishers and supporters who had generously contributed for establishing the monastery. He urged upon the people of the area to maintain the monastery as a precious asset in times to come and to accord all possible assistance to its inmates. (PRO to CM)

Kri for both revenue generation and better connectivity

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: ‘There is scope for improvement in our transportation system by evolving a collective mechanism to generate revenue for the state and facilitate better connectivity in the service sector’, said Karikho Kri Parliamentary Secretary Transport while inspecting transport stations of Tezu & addressing a meeting with transport department official at Namsai today.

Government is pumping in huge amount of fund annually to maintain the transportation system but increasing liabilities is a cause of concern for us to take-up important issues in almost all districts of the state, he said.

Requesting the departmental officials to come-up with more dedication to check revenue leakages, ensure comfort and safety of passengers with timely bus service to gain confidence of the people Kri stress on monthly statement on revenue earning and expenditure against each vehicle.

Pointing out his thrust area, he said that a proposal for dividing the service sector into four zones is being contemplated. The four likely zones at Itanagar, Tezpur, Tinsukia and Likhabali/Silapathar will constantly monitor and keep vigil on transportation services of their respective feeder districts through a senior officer of the department in each zone . The transport department officials are permanent and their combine effort and will can only transform the system , Kri added. Speaking on the occasion Namsai ADC Shri R. K Sharma pointed out that problem of encroachment and theft cases can not be contained with out security fencing and other protection measures by the concern department.

Due to limited police force and lack of enforcement staffs with district transport office and state transport department, all irregular ply of vehicle can not be checked and urged both the department to put combine effort in this direction . Of late more comfortable and luxurious private passenger vehicles are coming up and government buses are not in a position to catch-up such comfort and amenities and this is the area where effort is needed , he said.

Earlier, welcoming the gathering , the Station Superintendent Namsai K L Saikia pointed out various problems like roof leakages, fencing works, shortage of mechanics, provision of 60 seater bus, shortage staff strength, water scarcity & logging, toilet facilities at market bus counter.. He also disclosed that Namsai station is working with in the revenue target set by the government. The ASS Namsai T Taggu also spoke on the occasion. DIPRO

Vajpayee’s birthday celebrated

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) Arunachal Pradesh celebrated the 85th anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in an impressive function at its state headquarters yesterday.

Terming the celebration as a very important occasion for the party Karyakartas, former state BJP president and senior party leader Kangir Jamoh said Vajpayee with his true leadership would inspire the young generation and party workers to serve the nation.

State BJP General Secretary and Party Spokesman, Tai Tagak said that Vajpayee is a leader by birth and by virtue. B.R. Wage, state BJP Vice president who presided over the function emphasized on the need of possessing sound morale character and patience with dedication

NCP delegation meets central party leaders

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: A 20-member delegation of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Arunachal Pradesh unit called on the party’s national general secretaries P A Sangma, Tariq Anwar and president Sharad Pawar at New Delhi on the sideline of the NCP national convention recently.

Stressing the need of rapid development and monitoring of the schemes being implemented in Arunachal, the team requested the party national leaders to visit the state frequently. The team also submitted a memorandum enlisting various demands in the greater interest of the state, a party release said.

The release said, the team also requested the Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to start construction of Greenfield airport, Karsingsa at the earliest. State NCP leader Bamang Felix earlier informed that Patel in party’s national convention held at Delhi from Dec 19 to 21 had already given his words to start construction of the Karsingsa airport by March next year.

Soki congratulated

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: The Management, the Principal and staff of Donyi-Polo Mission School for the Hearing Impaired congratulated to Tajum Soki, a student of Class IV of the said school for receiving consolation prize in the National Level Painting Competition on Energy Conservation under (National Campaign on Energy Conservation 2009 of Government of India, Ministry of Power, New Delhi). The National Level Painting Competition was organized in the NTPC Power Management Institute Complex, Noida on December 12 where state level winners from all 28 states and 7 union territories took part.

The award ceremony was held in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on the National Energy Conservation Day (the December 14) and the prizes were given by the Minister of Power, Government of India in presence of Secretary (Power) and the Director, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Government of India, New Delhi.

Soki, the 3" prize winner of Anunachal Pradesh State Level Painting Competition held at ltanagar on November 17 grabs the consolation prize in the National Level which carries Rs. 10,000.

Meanwhile, NHPC Ltd, the nodal officer along with staff also congratulated the School Authorities and Tajum Soki on being success in the National Level Painting Competition.

Christmas celebrated with religious fervour

Khandu celebrates Christmas with students

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: Christmas was celebrated in various places of Arunachal Pradesh with pomp and religious fervour yesterday.

Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu celebrated Christmas with flock of students at his official residence at Niti-Vihar. Around 80 children from VKV Nirjuli had their day and were seen busy sharing the festive mood with Khandu.

The Chief Minister interacted with the children of different age groups. Later they were taken around the newly constructed CM bungalow and distributed sweets with added flavour of merry making.

Thousands of faithful celebrated the pre-Christmas cum Christmas vigil mass with much pomp and religious fervour in the Papu Nallah Catholic Church, Naharlagun on Dec 24.

Again on Dec 25 the main celebrant was the Rt.Rev.Bishop of Itanagar, John Thomas, who conveyed his Christmas greetings and the relevance of the Christ teachings of love for one and one and further called for the protection and preservation of the pristine environment so as to contain the global warming as mandated by the His Holiness the Benedict XVI. Other programs included cultural presentation from the various sectors under the Naharlagun Parishes and which was followed by community feast for the faithful and the believers.

Love takes centre stage at Christmas celebrations at Jully, Itanagar as the village folks walked the ramp forgetting their age.

As part of the celebrations a beauty contest was held but the difference was that the participants included women as young as 85 years. The women folk had a lesson or two for the young that as they grow old they have learnt the message of Christmas and have become young at heart.

“Love is the essence of religion” said Kapa Kholie, Director of RR & DM who was the chief guest for the celebrations on Dec 25.

“Jesus came to teach us love and the entire teaching of Christianity is summarized in love of God and love of people,” he said. “Learn to live in love with one another and that should be the lesson that we take home from this celebration,” he further added.

The highlights of the celebrations included solemn Holy Eucharist, cultural programme by the people of the village, community meal and various competitions which included volleyball match, cultural items, singing and stage performances between the youth and the elderly folks. The celebrations will, certainly be etched in the memory of people as celebration marked by love and amity. PRO to CM/ Sources

Khunjuju inspects under construction office building

BOMDILA, Dec 26: R.T Khunjuju, Parliamentary secretary, Hydro Power Development has inspected the under construction office building of the Superintending Engineer (SE), hydro power at New Bomdila during his official tour to his home district on Dec 24.

The construction work of the building is not up to the expectation due to fund constrain. At present the office of SE DHPD is functioning in the division office.

While explaining the important of hydro power and its role in development of the state, R.T Khunjuju urged the staff to strive to bring the state forefront in power generation. He asked the department to accomplish the construction work with local touch.

Is dam bane for Arunachal’s development ?

Taba Ajum

ITANAGAR, Dec. 26: At the time when government is going all out to turn Arunachal Pradesh into a ‘dam state’ with coming up of many hydro projects, just few miles drive from capital city Itanagar, Potin village, situated in Yazali circle, can be best example of why dams can not be answer to the problems of this state. This 405 MW dam built over Ranganadi (Paner in local) river is one of the early hydropower projects to have come up in the state with construction beginning in early 90s.

When this project started, it leads to displacement of nearby villages like Chun, Rub and Poosa. As a result of displacement caused by construction of dam, villagers of Chun were shifted to a new destination at Potin with the promise of better life by North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO) Pvt. Ltd., an agency which constructed Ranganadi hydro project dam. But life has totally changed for the people of this sleepy village located along Itanagar-Ziro road. Today they won’t hesitate to tell that for them Ranganadi project has not brought any changes. “When this project started our villagers were mostly uneducated and innocent. Our illiterate villagers were promised better life by NEEPCO and so everybody supported project. But look at the condition of our villages, can you see any development? ,” questioned Teyi Tagin, a resident of Potin. He further added, “We strongly feel that agency responsible for constructing this dam has betrayed us. They had promised to give employment to affected villagers but you can go and check; only few handfuls of people from our village have been given employment by NEEPCO.”

The policies of World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Asian Development Bank clearly state that, ‘‘The means of existence of those persons displaced by constuction of dams must be sustained for a certain number of years to ensure that their economic future is at least as good as that before the construction of the dam.’ But villagers of Potin were neither provided proper means to sustain their economy nor were given proper shelter to live. Most of the houses built as part of displacement have since then decayed because of poor quality of construction. While villagers were honest to acknowlegde that houses were constructed by private contractors, they wondered how engineering giant like NEEPCO would never check the quality of houses. ‘'Majority of houses that villagers got as part of displacement have been destroyed as they were not fit to live and new houses have been built by them at their own cost. NEEPCO could have atleast sent their engineers to check quality of houses before villagers moved in, ‘’ said Lishi Baka, a gram panchayat member of Potin.

Apart from that there are issues of compensation, basic amenities and 24 hour power supply promised initially, which angers the citizen of Potin. ‘‘24 hour un-interrupted power supply is still a dream for us. Despite being the severest affected village of Ranganadi project, we have got nothing in return. NEEPCO authority gave our elders few bucks of money as compensation and being illeterate they were content with it. Now when we realised magnitude of this project, we feel that our state government and NEEPCO have fooled us like anything,’’ thundered a young resident, who did not wish to be named.

This small village is a real time example of how developmental project can backfire in a state like Arunachal Pradesh. Our state government can learn many lessons out of this project, while in the meantime life will go as usual in this beautiful village.

Hospitality of Tawang people amaze Bhutanese film maker

Jambey Tsering

TAWANG, Dec 26: “Hats off to the people of Arunachal Pradesh, Tawang in particular for their hospitality as any outsider feel at home here,” said Bhutanese beauty Pema Yangkey, who is here on a shooting spree for Indo-Bhutanese joint film venture.

Tawang known as the last Sangri-La on earth for its mesmerizing beauty has been drawing tourists from far and wide as well as film makers.

“I came as a tourist two weeks ago but lost my heart to the people here during shooting and will go back as their relative to come back again at the first opportunity”, she said with her eyes sparkling with emotion.

The rare breathtaking scenes usually shot in foreign spots, like Switzerland, Mauritius and Bangkok at a higher cost are cheaper in Tawang, said Namgey Tsering, the producer-cum-actor of Leh, the next Indo-Bhutanese collaborative venture.

In fact, Tawang had drawn the attention of the Bollywood in 1997, thanks to the initiative of former minister T L Rajkumar, who was instrumental in encouraging Rakesh Roshan to select Tawang for their venture Koyla. Tawang’s maiden venture could not hit the box office but was successful in showcasing the enthralling natural beauty of then ‘undiscovered land’ for the film makers of India.

Tsering’s team is working on their silver screen movie Leh – The Destiny - with 22-year-old gorgeous Pema Yangkey in the lead female role.

Braving the freezing cold, they have been shooting at Shongatser and PT Tso lakes, the township area besides Merak in Bhutan.

Yangkey, who combines brain with beauty, as she proved during her interaction, is a noted Bhutanese actress with several movies to her credit, including box office hits like Chorten Kora-II, Drinchan (Gratitude), Betrayal and Sem-Ge-Jurwa.

A film maker-cum-actor, Tsering has worked in several Monpa music videos and as a supporting actor in Changnan, the first commercial movie produced from Tawang.

AoL to conduct YLTP

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: The Art of Living (AoL) Arunachal Pradesh will conduct the first phase of 7-day residential Youth Leadership Training Programme (YLTP) at its Ashram Itanagar on Jaunary 4 next.

Designed by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, YLTP is a unique training programme aimed at creating physically strong, mentally alert and morally responsible individuals who are ready to cross all their comfort zones and become role models for others.

CE PWD chief guest

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: Bora Ete, chief engineer, PWD (highways) and All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) general secretary Tujum Poyom have consented to attend the 4th general conference cum election of West Siang District Students’ Union on January 15 as chief guest and guest of honour respectively.

Natl. consumers day observed

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: The Global Human Rights Organization (GHRO) observed the National Consumers Day on December 24 at Govt. Hr Sec. School, Likabali.

The theme of the observation being “Be financially literate: save your investments”, GHRO chairman Goken Bam appealed to the students, youths and intellectuals, panchayat leaders and women’s society to bring mass awareness on consumers rights under Consumers Protection Act, 1986. He urged the business community to refrain from selling expired items and unfair trade practices. While briefing about salient features of Consumers Protection Act, Bam assured to organize more consumer protection awareness activities preferably in rural areas in West Kameng in particular and the state in general. He also assured all help to innocent villagers, who fall prey of such unfair trade practices.

On the occasion, GHRO members distributed pamphlets on consumers awareness literature issued by department of legal metrology and consumers affairs to participants, shopkeepers, public in the market/public places.

The teachers, students, business community, representative of Bazar Welfare Committee were present on the occasion.

Arunachal to participate in NE Chess tourney

ITANAGAR, Dec 26: All Arunachal Pradesh Chess Association (AAPCA) has announced a 17-member Chess squad for the 3rd North East FIDE rated chess tournament beginning at Agartala, Tripura from January four next. The team comprising of 15 players and two officials would be leaving here on January one for Agartala, according to an AAPCA release.

The team:

Hina Nabam Mavan (1862), Bharat Lingi (1868), Santosh Giri (1986), Raluk Dui (1714), Kalam Megu (1826), Dobin Doke, Gapur Dupit, Yommar Nyori, Nabam Chada, Gem Taje, Hage Lasa Nado, Mikbom Doke, Tamchi Kache, Domin Lollen, Tapi Shah. Officials: BP Lahan, Coach, Yibi Doke, Manager.

Congress to celebrate 124th year of existence

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) will celebrate the 124th year of existence of the Indian National Congress (INC) in a befitting manner at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, Itanagar on Dec 28 last.

Floral tributes to the statues of Mahatma Gandhi at Bank Tinali, Indira Gandhi at I G Park and Rajiv Gandhi at Congress Bhawan, Itanagar, and distribution of fruits to the patients of the R K Mission Hospital, Itanagar and General Hospital, Naharlagun are the main highlights of the programme.

Strict action against illegal money collectors

ITANAGAR: Taking serious note of the reported money collection by some young boys in the name of students’ organizations from various shopkeepers in Itanagar and Naharlagun, the district magistrate Itanagar Capital Complex has directed the Papum Pare police to look into the matter and take strict actions against those found involved in such illegal activities.

Free counseling prog

ITANAGAR: National Youth Project (NYP), Arunachal Pradesh will organize a one-day counseling programme on study abroad at NYP conference hall, Itanagar on Dec 30.General manager, NABARD Dr B G Mukhopadhay will conduct the programme as resource person.

MLA assures

ITANAGAR: Pachin Catholic Church Naharlagun has submitted a two-point memorandum to the local MLA Techi Kaso on the urgent need of the construction of retaining wall and security fencing around church complex. The MLA assured to construct the same next year, according to a release.

ANYA unit gets support

ITANAGAR: Endorsing the demand of the All Nyishi Youth Association (ANYA), Papum Pare unit, for CBI enquiry into the alleged irregularities in payment of compensation to the railway project affected people, the ANYA, Capital Complex unit (ANYACCU) has urged the state Govt and authorities concerned to fulfill its demand within January 21. It threatened joint movement by ANYA district unit and Capital Complex if their demand is not fulfilled within the fixed period of time.