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The government accords top priority to secure the international border in Arunachal Pradesh that has borders with China, Bhutan and Myanmar.
Addressing the 26 th Statehood Day celebration of Arunachal Pradesh at Itanagar on Monday, Defence minister A K Antony said it was a top priority for the Centre to make the country's frontier in Arunachal Pradesh secure and non-porous.
He also underlined the need for speeding up development of border areas and land, air connectivity to the hill state characterised by rugged and thickly forested terrain that makes the task difficult for security personnel.
Arunachal Pradesh shares over 1,680 kilometres of international boundary with three countries, of which 1,080 km is with China.
Highlighting the urgent need for development of state areas bordering China, Anotony said, "The importance of a secure, non-porous international border must continue to be the topmost priority. It is our collective duty to ensure that our border areas are as developed as any other part of the country. Proposals by the State government to provide connectivity and other infrastructure facilities to the border areas will be definitely given a serious consideration."
Lauding the 'fiercely patriotic' Arunachalis, Antony laid stress on accelerated implementation of the on-going road construction projects in the strategically important state including the Trans-Arunachal Highway project that was announced by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the year 2008.
He also said that the eight Advanced Landing Grounds in the state should be made operational as early as possible and would be made open for use by civil aircrafts too. Air connectivity through these ALGs in remote parts of the state would be vital for the populace in the absence of proper roads in the state.
Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki has demanded, among other things clearing a number of projects including providing connectivity to 22 hitherto unconnected administrative centres, and construction of foot-suspension bridges, log bridges and porter tracks in remote areas.
Both Chief Minister Tuki and Governor Gen (Retd) J J Singh in their Statehood Day speeches stressed the need for speeding up development of the border areas in the state.