Pema Khandu calls for good planning to harness natural resources of Arunachal

"Though the state has abundant natural resources but due to poor planning we are still unable to tap these resources to our advantage," Khandu said at a function organised by the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) and Sustainable Development Forum of Arunachal Pradesh (SDFA) last night, an official release said here today.

He said strong political will power is the need of the hour to bring in desired change in formulating programme and policies in a more holistic way.

The chief minister stated that there was a big gap in understanding sustainable activities in the mountain region till date but expressed hope that with the formation of IMI, such issues would be resolved soon.

He invited IMI to educate the government officers and youths through seminars, to do in depth research and come up with state specific programmes for the Himalayan state as it has many challenges of its own.

While assuring to empower IMI through proper funding, he asked the chief secretary to examine the proposal submitted by IMI and also to incorporate the proposal of Arunachal Pradesh Bio-Resource Development Mission.

SDFA chairperson and secretary of IMI Fantry Mein Jaiswal highlighted the initiatives and activities taken by IMI.

She informed that IMI had initiated independent platforms for discussing mountain’s development – the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) and Meet of the Mountain States (MoMS) which brings together states from IHR on a common platform to discuss their issues.

On the occasion, Head of State Horticulture Research and Development Institute Egam Basar highlighted the detail activities to be taken up under the proposed Arunachal Pradesh Bio-Resource Development Mission.