Centre planning road along McMohan line in Arunachal: Kiren Rijiju

To match China's road infrastructure across the McMohan Line, India is planning to construct a road along the international boundary from Mago-Thingbu in Tawang to Vijaynagar in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said on Tuesday.

"The road has also been planned considering the large-scale migration of people from border areas and the need to push them back by creating all basic amenities to make them comfortable," Rijiju told reporters in Itanagar.

He said the proposed 2,000-km long road which is still in the conceptual stage, would not only be beneficial from the security point of view but would also accelerate border area development, one of the priority areas of the NDA government at the Centre.

"The construction of the road will be a huge challenge considering the rough and hostile terrain mostly snow-fed through which it would pass and will be the biggest single infrastructure project in the history of India with an estimated cost of over Rs 40,000 crore," he said.

Rijiju, who is looking after border area management in the Home Ministry, said that Union Minister of Road, Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari had entrusted him with the responsibility to look after road projects in the northeastern states except Assam.

"I am proposing to undertake this road along with another in the foothill areas of the state from Bhairab Kund, the tri-junction of Bhutan, Assam and Arunachal to Ruksin in East Siang district which will serve as an industrial corridor for the people residing in the foothill areas of the state," he said.