Arunachal Pradesh needs special attention: Kiren Rijiju

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju has said Arunachal Pradesh needs special attention from the Center especially on the developmental front.

"After 1962 Chinese aggression, Indian government paid less attention to the state. The same attitude will not be repeated again," he assured the gathering at the valedictory function of three-day tourism festival at Mechuka in West Siang district yesterday.

He assured to pursue with the concerned central ministry for special funding for Adventure@Mechuka festival to attract more tourists to it and mountainous Arunachal Pradesh.

Rijiju said improvement in connectivity would transform the pristine valley to a major tourist hub, an official communique said here.

"If road connectivity is improved, Mechukha could be the center of attraction for Indian and Northeast tourists," he said and assured construction of connecting all weather road to every village to rid it of its communication bottleneck.

Responding to representations from the general people, he said Mechukha and Monigong would benefit from the proposed Tawang to Vijoynagar border road and the government was ready to invite foreign consortiums for it.

On compensation to owners of land in Mechuka taken for various projects, Rijiju said he had discussed with the authority so that land donors get their compensation.

At the same time he appealed to the people to donate their unused land to the government for developmental projects. "Development is being hit by legal petitions filed by compensation seekers."