Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul on Wednesday urged the Centre to help the state develop micro-hydro projects besides providing technological support for setting up of food processing units and cold storage.
Pul, during a meeting with officials of the department of Science and Technology at ‘Arunachal Bhawan’ in New Delhi informed that the state government is planning to ensure stable power supply to all the administrative centres by developing small hydro projects.
Stating that majority of the population and important institutions are in the administrative centres, the chief minister said it is important to bring stable power supplies in these areas, an official release said here.
Citing the success story of his home district Anjaw, Pul revealed that though the entire district is an off-grid area, almost all the villages and towns have 24 hour-power supply. “This has been made possible through development of 11 hydel projects in all small streams and rivers of the district,” he said and added that similar model could be adopted for rest of the state too. Pul, however, said the state should be exempted from population-based criteria to take full benefit from the central schemes.
“The development concept applicable to rest of India cannot be the same for Arunachal since the state has difficult terrains, limited working season due to harsh weather and geographical conditions and high cost of transportation due to limited communication network,” the chief minister pointed out.
Pul while highlighting the weak revenue base of the state, said all central grants to the state is consumed in paying salaries, wages and to maintain government establishments. (PTI)