KIBITHOO, 11 Apr: In an obvious message to China, Chief Minister Pema Khandu has said today’s India is not what it was in 1962 but a country that belongs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In the presence of Shah, Khandu also said it was perhaps for the first time that a union home minister came to a place located so close to the border with China.
Shah was here on Monday to launch the Modi government’s ambitious Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) to ensure all-round development of the villages located along the northern border.
China had on Monday objected to Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
“It is not an India of 1962. Today, it is Narendra Modi’s India, it is Amit Shah’s India,” Khandu said amid applause from the audience that mostly consisted of those living close to the Sino-Indian border.
India had faced Chinese aggression in 1962 and Kibithoo and neighbouring Walong had witnessed a fierce battle between the Indian Army and the China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Khandu’s remarks also bear significance as they came days after Beijing announced Chinese names for 11 places in Arunachal, which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet.
The chief minister said that the Modi government has been wholeheartedly supporting the all-round development of the Northeast, especially Arunachal.
As part of the VVP, the BJP-led Centre will provide Rs 4,800 crore for the development of villages all along the northern border – from Ladakh to Arunachal.
Shah had said that the objective of the programme is to stop the exodus of people, develop the villages as tourist attractions, generate jobs, and usher in an era of all-round development.
The VVP is a centrally-sponsored scheme under which 2,967 villages in 46 blocks of 19 districts abutting the northern border in Arunachal, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and the union territory of Ladakh have been identified for comprehensive development.
In the first phase, 662 villages have been identified for priority on coverage, including 455 villages in Arunachal.
The VVP will help improve the quality of life of residents in identified villages and encourage people to stay put at their native places, thereby reversing outmigration from these villages and adding to the security of the border, officials said.
The district administration, with the help of appropriate mechanisms at the block and panchayat levels, will prepare action plans for the identified villages to ensure a 100 percent saturation of the 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.
At the function, Shah also launched nine micro hydel projects of the Arunachal government that are being constructed under the golden jubilee border illumination programme for the benefit of those living along the border areas.
Besides the locals, the electricity generated in these mini hydel projects will also be given to the army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police installations. (PTI)
