The prime minister’s visit was followed by the visits of an unprecedented number of important dignitaries. We had the unique privilege of hosting President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Speaker of Parliament Meira Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and some ambassadors, including the British ambassador, Sir Richard Stagg, during my tenure. The president presided over the convocation in the North-East Regional Institute of Science and Technology at Itanagar and visited the border areas of Tawang and Kibithu. She was driven around the Raj Bhawan by me in a small battery-operated car, and was visibly impressed to see the various experiments and initiatives being taken by us, including the essentials of the bamboo project that has now come up in Poma village.
So many high-profile visits had never happened in such a short period in the state’s history. These sent out the right message: that the Government of India was doing its best to bring Arunachal at par with the other leading states of our country. Therefore, huge investments were being made in basic infrastructure projects of roads, railways and airports.
Accompanied by Rohini, I have travelled across the length and breadth of this vast state. The aim of these visits was to meet the people of different tribes and get to know their problems, to interact with government officials and observe the state of development and to meet with army, paramilitary and police force officials and get briefed on the security and law and order situation. I consider these visits as an important part of my duties. There were two occasions when we flew to remote villages, Singha and Gelling, close to the border with China, where I inaugurated mini-hydel projects of 30–50 KW. The roads have not yet reached some of these areas. The generators were stripped into head loads and carried by porters to these remote destinations. There they were assembled and the projects completed. In many places I was told that the people were seeing a governor for the first time. All over Arunachal Pradesh there are 651 border villages covered through micro- and mini-hydel projects, and 523 villages have been provided with solar home lighting systems. These developments are part of the prime minister’s package announced in 2008, and the remaining 1000-odd villages in the border belt would be provided electricity by the end of 2012.
We had been hearing of an important bridge over the Siang river being constructed by the Border Roads Organization in collaboration with Gammon India since the 1980s. This mighty river flows into India from Tibet, where it is called Tsang Po, and becomes the Brahmaputra as it joins the other major rivers like Lohit and Dibang.
It enters Arunachal Pradesh near Gelling village and flows into the Brahmaputra basin about 160 kilometres downstream. It is one of the most challenging rivers in the world for white-water rafting. The bridge over the Siang river (as it is called in Arunachal Pradesh) at Pasighat has great importance as it facilitates east to west movement in the foothills of Arunachal. This project had already taken more than two decades and was far from completion in February 2008 when I first toured the area. I flew over it a number of times and visited the site for a briefing. Considering the fact that it was a vital surface link and that none other than Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had laid the foundation stone in the 1980s, the inordinate delay in its completion was incomprehensible. It was after three visits to the site and a warning that I would strongly recommend that some heads roll, that this languishing project was finally completed in August 2009 and opened to the public. Similarly, another significant road connecting the southern side of the Brahmputra basin to the Lohit district in the north, including a 2.1 kilometre-long bridge at Alubari Ghat, has been successfully pushed by us and would be a reality in five to seven years. This would reduce the journey from Tinsukia in Assam to Tezu in Arunachal from four hours (a whole day during the monsoon period) to an hour or two.
I have made it a habit to drive into the rural areas of the state to meet people and see the developments taking place in the interior areas. Travelling by helicopter does not offer the same opportunities. On weekends, we sometimes also go on excursions in the vicinity of Itanagar. On one such exploratory visit, we came across a beautiful valley with paddy fields on both sides of a small river. We started trekking along the river and walked uphill, leaving the road and a sleepy little village behind. The water flowing in the river was spring-fed as a large number of perennial streams originating from natural springs flowed into it. There were rain forests on both sides of the river. After walking for an hour along a forest trail, we spotted a nice place where the river formed a big pool. The water was emerald green and its attraction was difficult to resist. We decided to relax and enjoy nature’s bounty. This was pure mineral water as there was no habitation uphill that could have polluted it. We enjoyed our picnic lunch and swam in the river. On our way back we stopped at the same small village. As was our practice, we distributed sweets among the children and spoke to the villagers. Besides agriculture they had no other source of income or means of livelihood. It was subsistence living. Except for electricity and an unmetalled road, not much had changed in their lives for decades. This village of around 300 inhabitants, about an hour’s drive from Itanagar, is called Poma, and the river has derived its name from it.
In the absence of any industry or with tourism yet to see the light of day, some avenue had to be found to enable income generation. I had read of the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) at Guwahati. On my next trip there, I decided to visit the CBTC and meet Kamesh Salam, its director. It was a revelation as I found an answer to the issue of sustainable income generation by the villagers of Arunachal Pradesh.
All that was required was to add value to the raw bamboo and cane that is found in abundance in Arunachal. A pilot project was conceptualized by me in Poma village, where we created a workshop and put in a few low-technology machines that would enable the youth and women to process the bamboo and make simple products. This project was facilitated by the departments of planning and environment and forests, and implemented by the Forest Corporation Limited of Arunachal Pradesh. A few young men and women were sent to Guwahati to undergo a short training capsule, and the Poma project was off to a start. It has been handed over to the village development society management. Today, it is a source of great joy and satisfaction to see the village humming with activity with about forty families actively involved in producing thin bamboo sticks for the incense sticks and other handicrafts to meet the unending orders. More importantly, entrepreneurial instincts and skills have been generated in the people of this once sleepy village. Poma is now being turned into a model village. The road has been black-topped under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojana (PMGSY) and the special plan assistance programme, the school has been upgraded and the primary health centre has also been renovated. Now we are witnessing a growing demand from other rural areas of Arunachal Pradesh for starting similar projects. Taking a step further towards facilitating the expansion of this concept as demanded by the people, a training programme for a fortnight was conducted at Poma, and was attended by villagers and small entrepreneurs from other districts.
Poma village in Arunachal was developed as a model village.
During the visit of the minister of tourism, Kumari Selja, we brought up the possibility of a tourist resort along the Poma river in the same area. We made an effective presentation and she promised to have the project examined and cleared on a fast track basis. To her credit, a project worth Rs 3.9 crores has been sanctioned and the work has already started. This project is one of the exceptional cases where the central government has released the funds to create a green tourism resort using wood, bamboo and grass for thatched roofs. The project is being executed by the state tourism department and involves the participation of villagers of the area.
On one of our weekend jaunts, we chanced upon a very beautiful and scenic lake about 15 kilometres from Itanagar. It was a sorry spectacle to see the lake, known as ‘Geykar Sinyi’ or Ganga lake, and its surroundings in such an unkempt state. Even the inaugural plaque, carrying the name of a former governor, had creepers and undergrowth all around. Instead of a place to cherish nature’s bounty, the area had something sinister about it. Hence, I decided to request the Indian Navy to send a team of divers so that we could do a hydrographic survey of the lake. Having done that, the navy was kind enough to mark the dangerous areas with colourful buoys. The next step was to procure some paddle boats. The state’s tourism secretary was requested to get funds released so that they could place the order for boats. It was then brought to my notice that there was no electricity or water supply at this site. To make it into a worthwhile destination for tourists, a new power line and water pipelines had to be laid. Besides these, there was a languishing swimming pool project at this site which needed to be funded so that it could be completed. All these have been put into place on a fast-track basis, with constant nudging of the Raj Bhawan. This tourist facility has been leased out as part of the tourism department’s public-private partnership scheme, and is today humming with activity. This complete transformation has been achieved within a period of two years. The downside of it is that young boys and girls are bunking school to romance in the environs of this enchanting lake!
I am convinced that Arunachal Pradesh has huge potential in apiculture too. Pure Himalayan organic honey has a huge demand and sells at a high premium. Therefore, we have taken the lead by setting up a few bee colonies in the Raj Bhawan itself. A lesser-known fact is that Punjab is the largest producer of honey in our country even though it has very little forest cover or flowers and no support of Himalayan flora. In Arunachal, we have all three, yet we produce a negligible quantity of honey, an aspect that I keep emphasizing to our people. There have been some encouraging developments in this field, and I hope to see my vision being realized one day. Further, seeing the potential for the production of tea, I talked to the tea board officials and recommended that they should open a chapter in Arunachal Pradesh as they had no presence till then. It didn’t surprise me when I learnt that even the Darjeeling variety of tea could be produced in Arunachal Pradesh. Consequently, we have made good progress in this field. Moreover, I have been telling the state’s farmers to grow the organic variety of tea because of the high returns it would give.
Arunachal has the longest stretch of Himalayan mountain chain (about 1000 kilometers) in the country. In fact, other than Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, no other state in the northeast has the Himalayas. Therefore, all-out efforts to create a mountaineering institute in Arunachal Pradesh were being made by the state government. For this we needed the sponsorship and financial backing of the ministry of defence and accordingly, I was constantly in touch with the minister. Eventually, on the state’s twenty-fifth statehood day on 20 February 2012, the defence minister, A.K. Antony, announced the sanction of this project by the Government of India.
Three Everesters of Arunachal Pradesh being felicitated by the author: Tapi Mra (top), Tine Mena (left) and Anshu Jansempa (right).
The first and only Everester from our state till recently was Tapi Mra. His was a one-man expedition to Mount Everest. During his daring bid in the summer of 2009, I received a desperate call from him from the base camp for financial assistance of $1000 or his sherpa would desert him. I assured him of this help and as a result he was able to go ahead with his mission. He climbed the Everest taking only 53 hours from the base camp to the summit. This is the fifth-fastest time in the world. On 1 April 2011, I had the pleasure of flagging off the first women’s expedition to Mount Everest by two Arunachalee women, Anshu Jansempa and Tine Mena, who had earlier climbed Mount Nepal Peak (7169 metres). It is a matter of great pride for all of us in Arunachal that both the women climbed the Everest and established a record for being the first women from the northeast to do so. Tine Mena created history on 9 May 2011 and Anshu Jansempa, a mother of two, summited three days later. Not content with that, Anshu, the determined and intrepid mountaineer that she is, made a second successful ascent of the Everest on 21 May and created a world record. Basking in the glory of these achievements, we now hope that the National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports at Dirang would become a reality in two or three years.
To increase the availability of better habitat for tourists, we proposed to the northeastern council to upgrade seventeen of our most beautifully located forest inspection bungalows. Some of them provide a view that is out of this world. Most of these structures are in a woeful and completely rundown condition. As funds are being released now, the renovation of these bungalows will be done in a phased manner. This project will be a landmark achievement in the field of Arunachal tourism. In a meeting in 2008 with the then tourism minister, Ambika Soni, I was able to get a commitment of Rs 12 crores for the creation of an institute of hotel management with a hostel for the students. It is satisfying to see the project coming up already in the area of Bandardewa. The first course shall commence in the academic session 2012–13.
Rohini has spearheaded various campaigns such as a breast cancer awareness programme, blood donation, and ‘ability beyond disability’ to help the challenged children and adults. So far, thirteen poor children have been provided free heart surgery in Delhi through the aegis of rotarians like Sushil Gupta and the National Heart Institute.