Aruchal presents State's requirements before FFC

Itagar, April 7: The Aruchal Government has presented a detailed report on the status of finces of the State to the Fifteenth Fince Commission (FFC), a 13-member team which is on a four-day visit. The teal was briefed on the challenges and opportunities in the State in different sectors like tourism, infrastructure, health and education.

In its four-hour long presentation on Friday, the State Government led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Chief Secretary Satya Gopal, apprised the team of the challenges presented by the State's geographical location, hilly terrains, hostile topography, limited working season, and lack of infrastructure and sought more fund for infrastructure development.

Aruchal being a disaster-prone State, the corpus of the NDRF grant needs to be enhanced and adhoc releases made available at the beginning of the year, a memorandum submitted by the Government to the FFC said.

Environment conservation, the biodiversity of the State and the challenges related to climate change should be taken into account in the context of developmental efforts and special compensation should be made under CAMPA to strike a balance between economic activities and environmental benefits accrued by the forest cover which is 80% of the State, the State memorandum said.

The Government also pleaded for a compensatory development plan for the development of Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts.

The FFC members expressed appreciation for the constructive and useful suggestions made by the Aruchal Government for empowering the State and ensuring its development.