The Arunachal Pradesh government today urged the Centre to set up an autonomous development council covering three sensitive districts of the state -- Tirap, Changlang and Longding.
The demand for a Patkai autonomous development council was placed before Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh by a delegation led by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki and comprising all the state ministers and MLAs from the said three districts along with two MPs.
The Home Minister assured the delegation that the central government would consider their demand, an Arunachal Pradesh government statement said.
While highlighting the need for an autonomous council to boost development in the three sensitive, insurgency-affected districts, Tuki gave a historical overview of the demand for a Patkai autonomous district council.
The chief minister said such a council was a long-standing demand of the people of the state, particularly those in the three districts that have been continuously affected by insurgency, leading to poor socio-economic conditions and lack of development.
Tuki highlighted that the region in the eastern-most corner of Arunachal Pradesh requires special focus to overcome development bottlenecks. A special administrative structure on the lines of an autonomous council would be of great help in addressing the challenges of development and governance in the said region, he added.
It may be mentioned here that the demand for the formation of a Patkai Autonomous Council was passed by the Assembly in 2004 and 2007 and the Cabinet approved the same in 2013.
The proposal was then sent to the Union Home Ministry and a committee headed by Joint Secretary (North East), Ministry of Home Affairs, was constituted by the UPA government to look into the demand. The committee had visited the three districts in February, 2014.
Since then, there has been no communication from the Home Ministry on Arunachal Pradesh's demand, the statement said.
