Laying the foundation stone of the permanent campus of the first ever College of Agriculture at Pasighat in East Siang district, Pawar disclosed that he had promptly extended the National Food Security Mission (NFSM)-rice component not only for Arunachal Pradesh but the entire North Eastern states after Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and the Agriculture Minister Setong Sena requested him last year.
"In fact, the credit of having NFSM in NE states goes to your chief minister who rightly pointed out the need to have food security within the region," he said while addressing a public rally, official sources informed.
"I am extremely liberal while supporting this state and have told my officers that if the state is ready to absorb more funds, we should readily provide the same," he said.
Pawar also offered assistance from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries in building cold chains, modern slaughter houses and many processing units.
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In fact, last week only, the ministry had sanctioned a grant of Rs 9 crore for establishment of a modern slaughter house at Itanagar besides approval for a Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Anjaw and in two more districts, he informed.
The College of Agriculture, which materialised in record time, in fact has already started its academic session from this year with 20 students.
With the first batch of B.Sc Agri already in place, Pawar said this must be the first case in the country where a college has been sanctioned and operationalised in such short span of time, sources added.