ITANAGAR, Aug 29: The Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed the Arunachal Pradesh Re-Organisation of Districts (Amendment) Bill, 2018, paving the way for creation of three new districts in the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein had introduced the Bill in the House on Tuesday for the creation of Pakke-Kessang, Lepa- Rada and Shi-Yomi districts.
After nearly seven hours of long discussion, the Assembly passed the bill by voice vote.
Arunachal Pradesh will have 25 districts after creation of the three new districts.
Pakke-Kessang district will be carved out of East Kameng district with five administrative units, namely Pakke-Kessang, Seijosa, Pijiriang, Passa Valley and Dissing Passo, with district headquarters at Lemmi.
The Lepa-Rada district would be created by bifurcating Lower Siang district with headquarters at Basar. The district would have four administrative units, namely Tirbin, Basar, Daring and Sago.
The Shi-Yomi district would have four administrative units, namely Mechuka, Tato, Pidi and Manigong with its headquarters at Tato and it would be created by bifurcating West Siang district.
Participating in the discussion, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said the “three new districts were created for the welfare of the people”.
Before the creation of the districts, the state government had a consultation with the local people who have agreed to donate land for infrastructure development of the district headquarters, he said.
Regarding the expenditure involved in development of infrastructure for newly created districts, the chief minister said, there would be no immediate financial expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of the state. The existing government infrastructure shall be used as minimum required infrastructure for running the district administration in the newly created three districts, the CM said.
Admitting that creating infrastructure for the new districts is a daunting task, the chief minister called upon the legislators to focus on revenue generation.
“All the members of the house should give priority on revenue generation in their respective districts”, the CM said.
Earlier, Mein, giving a brief history on development of state since NEFA days, said that creation of new districts from initial five districts continued as per requirement of the people and to sow the seeds of development equally in all parts of the state.
The Assembly also passed the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (Act no 2 of 1899) (In Its Application to the State of Arunachal Pradesh) (Amendment) Bill 2018 by voice vote before Deputy Speaker Tumke Bagra adjourned the House for the day.
The bill tabled by Mein in the House on Wednesday by Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, is aimed to enable the entrepreneurs to have a better credit position at their disposal by enabling them to secure loans through mortgage without compromising on their financial stability by reducing stamp duty for mortgage from three percent to one percent.
Quotes of the day
1. Kab tak BSNL wala sudhrenge?: Japu Deru, regarding poor functioning of BSNL network in West Kameng district.
2. Who is responsible for changing the name of the project from ‘Daporijo to Gerukamukh via Dumporijo to Daporijo- Dollungmukh via Dumporijo?’: Paknga Bage.
3. Ek saath main teen district; yeh hamesha history ban ke rahega: Japu Deru while appreciating the creation of three new districts.
4. Mein bhi ummeed karta hun aane wala samay meh mera constituency meh ek district bane: Nyamar Karbak while supporting the Arunachal Pradesh Re-organisation of districts (Amendment) Bill, 2018
5. Modalities should be worked out for carving out a new district. There should be criteria: Wanglin Lowangdong while supporting creation of new three districts.