Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on July 15 informed that Assam and Arunachal have in principle agreed to sort out the inter-state boundary issue out-of-court.

Participating in a virtual meet, convened by DoNER Minister GK Reddy, CM Khandu said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have stressed that the inter-state boundary issue between the two states should be resolved amicably and suggested an out-of-court solution.

“Inter-state boundary issue has been long pending. I have discussed it with my Assam counterpart, Hemanta Biswa Sarma and we have agreed to go for an out-of-court solution to all issues related to our boundary," stated a press release quoting Khandu.

"In fact, we have already started working at the ground. If everything goes well in the next few months we may see some concrete results towards instilling peace permanently along our boundaries," the release added.

Coming to the main agenda of the meeting – North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) – Khandu said the state government accords top priority to partnering with NESAC for technology support in all developmental works.

“Amit Shah, who is also the President of NESAC Society, has insisted on utilizing the expertise of NESAC (based in Shillong) by the North-Eastern states. Therefore, we have identified nine key areas to work under NESAC,” he said.

Some of these areas include the development of model villages in international border areas, identifying suitable land for agriculture and horticulture activities, identifying degrading forest covers, border fencing, etc.

The Chief Minister gave details of important programs under implementation and said that the Jal Jivan Mission that assures tap water supply to every household will be completed by 2022 in Arunachal, a year ahead of the national target.

“Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, 5688 dwelling units have been approved for our state, which we will complete in a time-bound manner,” he said.

Expressing concern over NITI Ayog’s report on the state’s poor education scenario, Khandu informed that the state government has launched its Mission Shiksha that aims to completely overhaul the scenario in the next few years.

“As far as facilitating investment in the state, we have enacted the Ease of Doing Business Act. Soon we will have in place a single-window clearance portal and centralized inspection system, which would make the process lot simpler and faster for investors,” he said.

In order to maintain the state’s greenery, he said the state government is committed to doing plantation in 80000 hectares of land in the next five years. The program is in full swing with the help of NEC, he added.

Raising the COVID situation of the state, Khandu admitted a steady rise of positive cases in the state.

He informed that a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) is being convened tomorrow (Friday) and the way forward would be decided.

“Our fight against COVID will be based on the five pillars suggested by our PM, ‘testing, tracking, treating, vaccination and covid appropriate behaviour,” he said.

Before concluding, Khandu impressed upon the DoNER ministry to consider the establishment of a world-class diagnostic lab in Dibrugarh, Upper Assam, that would benefit both Arunachal and Assam.

“Fortunately, we have land available in Dibrugarh allotted by the Assam government. We will be happy to donate if this lab comes up,” he said.

Meanwhile, Khandu expressed optimism that the North East would gain much under GK Reddy, who also holds the important portfolios of Tourism and Culture, the two most important sectors with regard to the northeast.

The meeting was attended by MoS DoNER B L Verma, MoS (Ind) Science and Technology and former DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, Chief Ministers of North Eastern states and officials of NEC and NESAC.