NEW DELHI, 22 Apr: The Modi government has brought development and changed the scenario of Arunachal Pradesh, which has been suffering from communication bottleneck for decades, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said here.
Speaking on Friday night at the launch of a book titled A Resurgent Northeast: Narratives of Change, authored by senior bureaucrat Ashish Kundra, Khandu said that “20,000 kms of road network has been built in the last nine years – equal to what it was built till 2014 since independence.”
“Communication has been a major bottleneck in Arunachal Pradesh. The scenario has changed after 2014, when the Narendra Modi government came to power,” he said.
Khandu said that the highways of Arunachal are top class now while more railway tracks are being built along the foothills of Assam.
“The railways will change the scenario of Arunachal Pradesh as well as the entire Northeast. Currently, three airports are operational in Arunachal Pradesh, including a new one near capital Itanagar,” he said.
The chief minister said that, since independence till 2014, there were 20,000 kms of road network, but in the last nine years, an additional 20,000 kms have been built, taking the road network to a total of 40,000 kms.
Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, who also hails from Arunachal, said that “national integration is not only about connecting through physical infrastructure, but it is also an issue of emotional connection.”
The union minister said that, before 2014, as an MP, he used to tell everyone in the then government to improve basic infrastructure in the Northeast but received little attention.
“At that time, those who were in the government used to say that there is a security concern to carry out development up to the border area. But the policy is completely changed now under the Modi government. Every border point is now well-connected,” Rijiju said. (PTI)
