Itanagar:
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday vowed to make the panchayat and municipal bodies people-centric by giving them more powers. Kicking off the election campaign for panchayat and municipal polls at Naharlagun, Khandu thanked the people of the state for electing unopposed 5,464 BJP candidates to the local bodies.
”The support shown by the people of Arunachal is historic and is unprecedented in the history of local body elections in the state,” he said. The chief minister said such a mandate was possible because the voters are intelligent and witnessed the performance of the BJP.
”There was a time when Northeast was neglected. But today the visit of central ministers to Northeast is frequent, prompting development activities to go on in full swing,” he said. ”Under BJP, all big pending projects have been completed and many others are on the verge of completion.
Besides development, BJP has also focused on transformation and bringing transparency in governance,” Khandu added. The chief minister appealed to the people to vote for BJP as he felt that this election is crucial for making the Smart City project a successful venture.
”Itanagar, being the face of Arunachal, it is our duty to keep the capital clean, orderly and beautiful,” he said and promised to improve the law and order situation in the city. He assured to increase CCTV installations and street lights all over the city, including the four-lane highway.
Khandu also promised to get all sectorial roads paved. The chief minister said that the airport was languishing for a decade, but work has finally started after much effort went into resolving the pending issues, finalising the site and completing the ground survey.
Under BJP, he said, the railway services to the state capital region have also improved. Assuring more powers to the local bodies, the chief minister said the BJP government believes in decentralisation.
Khandu said the municipality at present has power over 13 subjects and if the party wins the polls, it will be extended to 20 subjects..
