Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday announced that construction of 156-km-long road to connect Vijaynagar, the remotest circle of Changlang district with Miao would be taken up on priority and as a major road soon.
It takes seven to 10 days on foot through dense forest to reach isolated region of Vijaynagar, nestled in the Himalayas along the India-Myanmar Border. The circle is surrounded on three sides by Myanmar and the other side by a vast and thick forest of Namdapha National Park.
Spread across 8,000 square kilometres, Vijaynagar is unique for many reasons. It was discovered by the Assam Rifles paramilitary force during an expedition named Srijit II in 1961 under Major General A S Guraya, IG of Assam Rifles. The valley was later named by him after his son.
Addressing a public meeting on the sidelines of the launch of his two-month-long Arunachal Rising campaign, Khandu said Vijaynagar has huge tourism potential owing to its scenic beauty and also huge potential for horticulture and agriculture activities.
“These potentials have, however, not been tapped as yet because of lack of proper surface and air communication,” the chief minister said while adding that “though former chief minister Late Dorjee Khandu had approved for survey and preparation of a detailed project report for constructing said the road under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, the same was hampered and delayed due to improper work allocation.”
The Chief Minister also assured that an additional 70 metre long steel suspension bridge besides the existing Empen Bridge would be constructed on the 32 km motorable road from Miao which normally gets cut off during monsoon.
For air connectivity to Vijaynagar, the Chief Minister assured to take up with the Centre to expedite work on advance landing ground (ALG) here and said that it will soon be connected with other six ALGs in the state under the Chief Minister’s connectivity scheme.
He also promised to work out with private carriers on starting MI 172 helicopter services in the region for six days a week.
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