‘No construction of hydro projects against people’s will’

Our correspondent

Itanagar, May 31: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has made it clear that the State government will never develop hydropower projects in the Siang basin ‘against the will of the people’.

While asserting that the State government will never work against the will of the local people, Khandu in a function at Geku in Siang district on Wednesday said, “The government will take up hydropower projects only when people themselves feel the need for it.”

On allegations that the government was secretly moving ahead with the hydropower projects, the Chief Minister clarified that “It’s in the capacity of none to take up such big projects without being caught or noticed.”

Also allaying the rumours of Arunachal BJP having alliance with the National People’s Party (NPP), Khandu said the NPP is an alliance member of BJP-led NEDA (North East Democratic Alliance), but has no alliance with State BJP as it has no single MLA in the State. Khandu, meanwhile, said the State BJP will have no pre-poll alliance with any party and is confident of winning all 60 seats in the 2019 Assembly polls. On developmental front, the Chief Minister said that in the last two years, work culture in the State has seen great improvement.

He said the increase in State’s financial resources from mere Rs 900 crore to Rs 1600 crore within two years is a testimony to this fact. He thanked the State government employees for bringing out such performance. The government is aiming to achieve the target of Rs 2000 crore-revenue generation in the next financial year, he added.

“The government is slowly moving toward decentralization by empowering the institution of deputy commissioner,” he said. Khandu added that a district level society, under the DCs for health, education and agriculture and allied sectors would be formed, which would take care of all the requirements of the respective districts in a transparent way.

“Earlier, all the needs of the districts were decided from Itanagar that resulted in corruption leading to a complete mismatch between the grassroots needs and fulfillment in addressing those needs,” he added.

He further exhorted the DCs to play active role in ensuring that the benefits of the important flagships programmes reach the intended beneficiaries and urged them to transfer all the benefits through the DBT mode and to maintain PFMS accounts. This was stated in an official communiqué.