NEW DELHI, 8 Apr: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Arunachal Pradesh on 10 and 11 April to launch the vibrant villages programme (VVP) in Kibithoo village in Anjaw district, along the India-China border.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government of India has approved the VVP with central components of Rs 4,800 crore, including Rs 2,500 crore exclusively for road connectivity for the 2022-’23 to 2025-’26 financial years, a home ministry statement said on Saturday.
The VVP is a centrally sponsored scheme under which 2,967 villages in 46 blocks of 19 districts abutting the northern border in the states of Arunachal, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and union territory of Ladakh have been identified for comprehensive development.
In the first phase, 662 villages, including 455 in Andhra Pradesh, have been identified for priority coverage.
The VVP will help in improving the quality of life of people living in identified border villages and encourage people to stay at their native locations, thereby reversing the outmigration from these villages and adding to the security of the border, the statement said.
The district administration, with the help of appropriate mechanisms at block and panchayat levels, will prepare action plans for the identified villages to ensure 100 percent saturation of central and state schemes. The focus areas of interventions identified for the development of villages include road connectivity, drinking water, electricity, including solar and wind energy, mobile and internet connectivity, tourist centres, multipurpose centres and healthcare infrastructure and wellness centres.
Shah, in his first visit to Arunachal as home minister, will on 10 April inaugurate nine micro hydel projects of the state government constructed under the golden jubilee border illumination programme in Kibithoo. These electricity projects will empower people living in border villages, the statement said.
He will also inaugurate Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) projects to augment infrastructure in Likabali (Arunachal Pradesh), Chapra (Bihar), Nooranad (Kerala) and Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), it said.
The home minister will also interact with ITBP personnel in Kibithoo.
An exhibition of products made by members of women self-help groups of border districts will also be held. Shah will visit the exhibition stalls, the statement said.
On 11 April, he will visit Namti field and pay homage at the Walong war memorial, it said. (PTI)
