The Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission said the States like Arunachal Pradesh will be the biggest beneficiaries of the new initiatives taken by the Central Government. He said Arunachal Pradesh because of its poor infrastructure and geographical position would immensely from programmes like Bharat Nirman, Rural Health Mission, Employment Guarantee and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. He said the States of North Eastern Region are likely to benefit further as efforts are on to further improve on the special package for the Region.
He said the Prime Minister is also very keen on expediting development process in the entire region and lot of emphasis would be placed on making Bharat Nirman a big success. The State was asked to evolve participatory family based planning at all levels. Attention was also drawn to the fall in the development expenditure and lack of adequate health facilities. It was suggested that emphasis should be given to developing tourism specific infrastructure on priority. Planning Commission committed full support in early completion of airport in Itanagar. The State was complimented for improvement in education sector.
The Chief Minister pleaded for special consideration for the State while enforcing criteria for development schemes and said that the State was passing through a very difficult situation. He said growing fiscal gap has put severe strain on the State economy and regulatory measures have failed to protect economy from extreme difficulties like debt servicing. He pointed out that the State was facing an annual burden of over Rs.200 crores on debt servicing liability.