Itanagar( Arunachal Pradesh), Jan 26 : Along with the rest of the country, Arunachal Pradesh celebrated the 71st Republic Day with enthusiasm and gaiety on Sunday.
Governor Brig (Retd) BD Mishra unfurled the tri-colour at Indira Gandhi Park here, where the main function was held. He inspected the parade and took the salute at a ceremonial march past.
In his addressal, the Governor said his Government is following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’ to make Arunachal Pradesh as one of the best administered and governed states in the country.
He called upon people to join hands for the sake of development of the State, with the Government, headed by Chief Minister Pema Khandu to fight the hydra-headed monster ‘corruption’.
“To bring transparency and curb corruption, we have developed Arunachal satellite-based monitoring and geo-tagging tool. Now, all Government departments must geotag all the developmental projects,” he said.
For ensuring free, fair, merit-based and transparent public services recruitment process, now all Group-A and B recruitments are being conducted by the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission, the Governor said.
Mishra also highlighted the initiatives taken by his Government in recent years and the future roadmap for the development of the state in the various sector including health, education, tourism.
The Governor emphasised on road, rail and air connectivity and said these are the most important factors which facilitate the state’s development.
“There is a backlog in road communication infrastructure which our Government is addressing with great care and concern. We have developed a comprehensive plan to upgrade all the roads in districts headquarters over the next four years under the Chief Minister Comprehensive State Road Plan 2019-2024,” he said.
The Governor said the Hollongi airport and its auxiliary support infrastructure are now on work chart of his Government and it will be completed in the next three years time.
Recalling that in the past many projects had been stalled because of problems created by landowners, the Governor appealed to all people, especially the landowners to cooperate and offer the requisite land generously whenever required in public interest.
Citing that there is considerable scope in the mining sector for augmenting the revenue of State, Mishra said recently Government handed over Petroleum Exploration Licenses (PEL) to Oil India Limited for exploration in seven new blocks and part of the royalties received through such projects will be utilized on development and welfare of the local population of the area.
As per the reports of Ministry of Finance, Government of India, Arunachal Pradesh GST collection ending December 2019, has recorded 124 per cent jump which is highest in the country, he said.
In the context of the Hydropower development, Mishra said, “I want to assure that State Government under our popular-progressive Chief Minister Pema Khandu, is fully empathetic and alive to the requirements of the environmental preservation and the best rehabilitation of the dislocated people if any.”
The Governor also mentioned that the Government has approved Arunachal Pradesh State Industrial & Investment Policy 2019 to make state investment-friendly by promoting ease of doing business here.
“We will have a single-window system to create the conducive business environment and will provide attractive incentives and subsidies for setting up industries in our state,” he said.
Cultural show by folk dance troupes and school children also marked the Republic Day celebrations. The names of state awardees were also announced.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
At state unit of Arunachal Congress here, the celebration started with ‘Vande Mataram’ by Congress Seva Dal. Rajen Nani, vice-president of Arunachal Congress hoisted the national flag.
At Aalo, the headquarters of West Siang district, Deputy Commissioner Swetika Sachan unfurled the tri-colour and took salute from 30 contingencies representing ITBP, APP, IRBN, band parties and students from different schools.
Tawang DC, Sang Phuntsok, hoisted the national flag amidst huge gathering at general parade ground Tawang.
(Source: UNI)
