Itanagar Dec 28 PTI Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the progress of construction work of a greenfield airport at Hollongi near here despite challenges arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic Khandu who visited the site of the ambitious project 15 km from here told reporters that work on 1500 metres of the 2300 metre-long runway has been completed Earlier the completion target of the project the foundation of which was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was November 2022 which has been changed to August 2022 Once commissioned the airport will be the first in the state with a runway of 2300 metres suitable for the landing and take-off of Boeing 747 aircraft This is a dream project of the entire population of Arunachal Pradesh We need to thank the Central government for extending all-out support in fulfilling the dream We also need to appreciate all the agencies that are working day and night to meet the deadline despite hurdles he said Presently no airport exists in the vicinity of Itanagar the closest one being Lilabari Airport in Assam which is at a distance of 80 km from here Mentioning that a pre-fabricated terminal building would be in place by early next year Khandu said The building will be temporary while construction of a permanent building will continue Once the permanent structure is ready the temporary one will be utilised as cargo area The chief minister also said that keeping in view the possibilities of future expansion the government has acquired about 500 sq metres of land beyond the runway while the Kokila river that runs along the airport boundary is being diverted There are no external hurdles and work is going on smoothly The agencies are working on a few internal issues Khandu said Later the chief minister held an internal review meeting with all project stakeholders during which he was informed that the passenger terminal with an area of 4100 sq metres will be able to handle 200 passengers during peak hours While the acquisition of the required five acres of land on the Assam side shifting of 132 KV power grid line and diversion of Kokila river are going on about 74 per cent work has been done on building the four-lane approach road to the airport which would be completed by January 31 next The project executioners told the chief minister that ongoing works were affected due to the COVD-19 situation particularly during the second phase of the lockdown leading to non-availability of construction materials and machinery parts in nearby areas Work agencies could not maintain sufficient manpower at the project site at that time they said PTI UPL MM MM

Itanagar Dec 20 PTI Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu Monday termed deputy commissioners DC as drivers of districts under their jurisdiction who can lead them to prosperity or doomsday The fate of a district and its people depends on the ability and sincerity of its deputy commissioner the chief minister said while chairing the 10th e-Pragati review meeting with administrative heads of all the districts at Pasighat During e-Pragati meetings the chief minister interacts with government officials to review the progress of important central and state government projects being implemented in the districts The chief minister urged the DCs to conduct monthly e-Pragati review meetings at the district levels and work on the issues taken up at the state level e-Pragatis an official communiqu said here Taking into account your action-taken reports I have to present a cumulative action-taken report of the state in our bi-monthly review meetings taken by the Prime Minister he informed the deputy commissioners at the meeting held in East Siang district Khandu reminded the DCs of the Pakke Declaration aimed at climate-resilient development in the state The declaration envisages a multi-sectoral approach towards low emission and climate-resilient development through five broad themes or Panch Dharas environment forest and climate change health and well-being of all sustainable and adaptive living livelihoods and opportunities and evidence generation and collaborative action He said these rest on 75 strategies including protecting forest cover reducing health vulnerability due to climate change and extreme weather events developing master plans for all urban areas reflective of local climate change-induced risks adopting efficient irrigation measures and promoting entrepreneurship among others The chief minister also raised two important schemes launched by the Central government Svamitva and Svanidhi that need an urgent push by the state government While Svamitva scheme is a reformative step towards the establishment of clear ownership of property in rural inhabited areas by mapping of land parcels using drone technology and providing Record of Rights to village household owners Svanidhi aims to provide affordable working capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to COVID-19 lockdowns Though in Arunachal Pradesh the process of providing land rights to the people is still in a nascent stage Khandu said that the state government expects its administrative officers along with elected representatives to come out with a solution to implement the benevolent scheme We all have to work together to implement these schemes and I have full confidence in our deputy commissioners Successful implementation of Svanidhi entirely depends upon you he added Khandu expressed hope that in the next e-Pragati meeting the deputy commissioners will be ready with their action-taken reports on all the issues raised and discussed in the meet PTI UPL MM MM