Itanagar: Around 15 policemen from Assam’s Dhemaji district headed by a sub-inspector allegedly stopped an ongoing Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) construction work at Hime village in Lower Siang district on Tuesday.
The Hime village falls under the Kangku circle of the district.
Hime gram panchayat chairperson (GPC), Kage Nada told NewsFy that the Assam police personnel arrived at the village at around 11 am on Tuesday and threatened the workers who were carrying out a road construction work under PMGSY between Likabali to Durpai.
“The police also threatened the contractor of the site and asked him to stop the construction work to which he had to oblige. The work has now been stopped,” the GPC said, while adding that the police personnel had no official order from the higher authorities to halt the work.
Nada said this is not the first instance of Assam policemen interrupting construction works in the area.
“We have come across such situations several times where the Assam police or forest officials have interrupted many government as well as private constructions. Sadly, there is nothing much that we can do about it,” he said.
Likabali MLA Kardo Nyigyo when contacted expressed anguish over the incident.
“I don’t understand why the Assam police are interrupting a road construction that is being carried out under a central government scheme. PMGSY roads are sanctioned by the Centre and these roads are for rural areas. Once completed, the villagers from both Arunachal Pradesh and Assam will benefit from it,” said Nyigyor.
The MLA also said that he is waiting for a positive outcome from the meeting between the chief ministers of the two states.
Lower Siang superintendent of police Kushal Pal Singh said he had deputed a team to enquire the incident and submit a report on the same by Wednesday.
The Assam government officials could not be contacted for their comments.
The development comes a day after Chief Minister Pema Khandu met his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma and held discussions on the boundary issue between the two states.
Khandu later in a tweet said that the two governments would “sincerely work towards a permanent solution on this long pending issue.”
Arunachal shares around 730 kms of boundary with Assam.
AAPSU raps Assam police: Condemning the “unmindful” act of the Assam police, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) said “the unilateral act of Assam officials in stopping developmental works have the potential to derail the entire hard work put by the authorities concerned at the highest level.”
“This unjustified and unwarranted act by the Assam officials has come at a time when the entire state of Arunachal is looking forward with all optimism at the meeting between chief ministers Khandu and Sharma and hoping that a permanent solution to the contentious Assam-Arunachal boundary issue would be hammered out,” union general secretary Tobom Dai said in a statement.
The AAPSU in its strongest word condemns the unmindful act of the Assam police, he added.
