Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu on Tuesday called on union finance and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman at her office in New Delhi and sought financial assistance for development of critical social sectors of health and education in the state.
While apprising union minister Sitharaman on the financial status of Arunachal, Khandu at the same time urged for financial assistance for upgradation and development of Tomo Riba Institute of Health & Medical Science besides making the tertiary care cancer treatment centre operational.
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He also urged for assistance over establishment of Ayurveda Medical College, Pharmacy College and funding for an establishment like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the state.
For the education sector, the chief minister sought assistance for meeting the infrastructure gap while informing that the central government schemes on education has helped the state government only to a certain extent.
Further seeking special financial assistance, Khandu said piece meal approach at infrastructure upgradation has not helped much and urged for transformational intervention and not incremental one.
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Besides education and health sector, Khandu also sought intervention for massive development thrust especially for insurgency-infested areas of Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts and for development of border areas along India-China border.
Further, he sought maximum funding for construction of Greenfield Airport at Hollongi stating that Arunachal is the only state in India that does not have an airport in its state capital.
Also, to foster economic resilience and to make financial services at affordable costs to all individuals and businesses in the state, Khandu sought assistance for financial inclusion to benefit farmers, unemployed youths, senior citizens and needy people.
Deputy chief minister Chowna Mein and Arunachal East MP Tapir Gao accompanied the chief minister.
Khandu on the day also called on union minister of state (Independent) for civil aviation Hardeep Singh Puri and apprised him on the progress of land acquisition with regards to the construction of Greenfield Airport at Hollongi near Itanagar.
During the meeting, Khandu requested the union minister for expeditious completion of the project and also called for a constitution of a project monitoring committee under the chairmanship of civil aviation secretary, Government of India with Arunachal Pradesh’s chief secretary as one of the committee members.
The chief minister also requested the union minister for early start of commercial flight services for Tezu Airport which has been constructed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Also requesting for helicopter services under regional connectivity scheme to be made operational, Khandu said the selected operators under UDAN are yet to start their actual operation in Arunachal and requested for the union minister’s intervention into the same.
The chief minister was accompanied by state’s tourism minister Nakap Nalo.