PM's visit: Arunachal to get big infra projects

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Arunachal Pradesh visit on Thursday will not only be the first by a PM in over a decade, but the plans he will unveil during the course of his two-day stay will reflect India's concern over the border dispute with China.

Sources in the government have confirmed that the PM will be announcing a "trans-Arunachal" highway, which will traverse the state.

This will not only address infrastructure demands in the state but will also make it easy for the military to move around the state.

Apart from the highway, the PM will be announcing infrastructure projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore in the state. He will also be inaugurating a 110 Mw hydel power project at Doimukh on the outskirts of the state capital, besides laying the foundation stone for a permanent complex of the state legislative assembly and the civil secretariat.

The PM's visit, the first after former Prime Minister Deve Gowda's 1996 visit, is important in the message being conveyed to China, which has consistently refused to recognise Arunachal as an integral part of India.

The appointment of former Army chief General J J Singh as governor of Arunachal Pradesh and plans to build a trans-Arunachal highway signal that India is taking a cautious approach to the border dispute, while remaining at the negotiating table with China.

However, the PM will not be visiting the disputed area of Tawang and will concentrate on showering goodies and sops on the people of the land-locked border state.