'Boost border development to stop migration' Says Chowna Mein

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Monday requested the Centre to help the State in developing the border areas to stop migration of people due to lack of connectivity and other basic facilities.

Attending the Central government's pre-Budget meeting of all States and Union Territories chaired by Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman through the virtual mode, Mein focussed on the development of the border areas as the State shares long international borders with China, Myanmar and Bhutan.

"It is of critical importance that the areas near Indo-China border be rapidly developed and the connectivity of roads improved so that a permanent and patriotic border population act as a check against any foreign misadventure," he said.

Informing that a comprehensive scheme for infrastructure in Indo-China border areas is now under active consideration of the Centre, Mein, who also holds the Finance portfolio, sought Sitharaman's support for the approval of various such schemes.

Stating that Arunachal Pradesh is perhaps the only State which has been deprived of externally aided projects from organizations like World Bank, ADB, JICA, he requested the Ministry for suitable alternative arrangements.

"This not only deprives the State of financial benefits but also of technical knowledge — that comes along with external aided projects — which is a big deterrent in our developmental activities," he pointed out and requested the Centre to release funds under the Centrally sponsored schemes as implementation of some schemes at the ground level suffered a serious setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stating that Arunachal has also lost two crucial months due to the local body elections coupled with the difficult year due to pandemic, the Deputy Chief Minister requested the Centre to consider releasing the next installment of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) without any conditions.

He also expressed the need to extend the schemes related to social-security and banking services to all the unbanked areas by opening new branches and Customer Service Points (CSPs) to cover all the beneficiaries, especially in the rural areas for a wholesome financial inclusion. Mein also proposed to increase lending on a priority basis to benefit the unemployed youths and the needy people to provide smooth banking services throughout the State. He further pressed for providing broadband connectivity in all the areas across the State by way of optical fibre and micro wave connectivity.

While expressing the likelihood of the battle against COVID-19 to continue for some more time, he said that the focus of the State government in the short run is effective COVID management, saving lives and providing sustainable livelihoods to its citizens on priority.

"In the longer run, the State is planning to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by increasing farmers' income, reducing poverty, providing drinking water to all, making available quality affordable health care, quality education, skill development and providing basic infrastructure for economic activities and attracting private investment in the State," said Mein.

The Deputy Chief Minister added that the State, known for its extreme remoteness and backwardness has witnessed an unprecedented development in last few years which need to be continued to bridge the developmental gaps which remained unattended for decades after the Independence.

He also said that the people of Arunachal Pradesh have great expectations and hope to achieve their dreams in development of infrastructure — roads, railways, waterways and airways, border areas, health, education and financial inclusion. While appreciating Sitharaman for handling the difficult task of ensuring growth in resource generation and its equitable distribution this year and also acknowledging the Central Government's financing in curbing the overall impact of COVID-19 pandemic to a great extend, the Deputy CM urged the Union Finance Minister to release in full the State's share of Central taxes from January 2021.

He also sought 'Green Bonus' for the Indian Himalayan States citing that the 15th Finance Commission in its interim report has given weightage of 10 per cent to 'Forest and Ecology' for determining the horizontal sharing of Central taxes among the States.

Among others, State Principal Secretary (Finance) A.C. Verma, Commissioner (Planning & Investment) PrashantLokhande and Secretary (Finance) Y.W. Ringu also attended the virtual meeting.

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