Payeng: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Pema Khandu, on Thursday officially declared the establishment of a new administrative circle, Lab-le, carved out of the existing Payeng circle in the Upper Subansiri district.
This decision, long overdue, had been pending for several years.
Addressing the public in a meeting held at Kublong village under the Taliha Assembly Constituency, Khandu candidly acknowledged the sluggish pace of infrastructural development in the Payeng administrative circle, which was established back in 1999.
“This is my maiden visit to the Payeng circle, and I acknowledge that it has not developed as it should have, given its status as one of the oldest administrative circles of the state government. Perhaps there was a lack of proper planning, or maybe the political will at the highest level was not as robust. But I assure you, this will change,” he admitted.
Responding to concerns raised by Tara Payeng, the first Tagin MLA and a key figure in the creation of the circle headquarters, Khandu empathetically recognized the sentiments regarding the underdevelopment of the region.
He assured Payeng that he would witness a transformative change in the area in the coming years.
“Every public representative’s heart beats for his or her constituency. Payengji, the first MLA of the region, has the right to resent the lack of development in the area he represented in the legislative assembly. May God give you good health and witness the change you always wanted,” Khandu said.
The chief minister affirmed that his top priority would be to provide essential infrastructure and manpower to both the existing Payeng circle and the newly announced Lab-le.
Highlighting the shift in the development landscape since 2014, he attributed Arunachal’s earlier slow pace to the lackadaisical attitude of the then central government towards the North East. He praised the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing about unprecedented transformation in the region.
“PM Modi’s outlook towards the North East is completely different. There’s no policy, programme, or budget prepared today without including the North East. The difference it has made can be seen,” he said.
With the upcoming assembly elections on the horizon, Khandu appealed for support and cooperation from the people to maintain the accelerated pace of development across the state.
“We have a blueprint ready to take our beloved state on a fast-paced developmental trajectory once the impending elections are done and dusted,” he said.
Addressing the concerns raised in various memorandums submitted by the locals, the chief minister assured that all genuine demands would be addressed by the state government in a phased manner.
Meanwhile, in the presence of the four legislators of Upper Subansiri and other dignitaries, Khandu inaugurated several projects, including infrastructure for the Taliha Government Secondary School, a stadium at Taliha, a road from Bogne to Lepajaring, an Inspection Bungalow at Kodak, a circle office building, and CO residential quarter in Taliha, and the augmentation of Taliha water supply and PMGSY roads from Noh bridge to Papa, Taliha to Duchok, Tajina bridge to Ramsing, and Tajina bridge to Baring.
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