In yet another instance of Assam creating hurdles in the construction of road infrastructure inside Arunachal Pradesh, officials of the Assam forest department, along with student activists, damaged an excavator and destroyed five oil barrels on Monday as they obstructed work of the ongoing Kimin-Buka PMGSY road project near Belo-1 in Papum Pare district.
Earlier, the officials from Assam had created similar disturbances in the construction of PMGSY road at Tarasso and near Bogoli-Denka in Doimukh circle. Such repeated interferences in the construction of road infrastructure along the foothills areas of the state by the neighbouring state of Assam are unfortunate.
However, what is shocking is the lackadaisical attitude of the government of Arunachal Pradesh towards such incidents.
Pressure groups, like the All Nyishi Youth Association, have been repeatedly raising concerns over such issues, but the state government has not made any attempts to address those concerns.
What is even more surprising is that there are BJP governments in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, which should have made correspondence easier.
The government of Arunachal Pradesh should strongly take up the matter with its Assam counterpart at the earliest. Assam has no business to interfere in the road infrastructure work being undertaken inside Arunachal’s territory. This message should be conveyed to the Assam government, organisations and officials.
Such skirmishes have the potential to cause further rifts in the relationship between people of the two states.