Itanagar, Sep 15 : Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Sunday reiterated the staunch commitment of his government to put a halt to all ‘individual’ centric schemes and projects and take up only those that are beneficial to the society as a whole.
“The state government has already decentralized the planning process by giving the responsibility of forwarding schemes and projects to the District Planning Committees based on specific needs at the grass root level. This will bring in transparency, curb corruption and usher development in real sense,†he said addressing the engineers on the occasion of the 52nd Engineers Day.
Khandu urged engineers of all work departments not to encourage schemes that are pushed by individuals but only forward those which are on demand by an entire community, village or society.
Further, the Chief Minister said, all projects, once started, will be geotagged to be monitored remotely and avoid duplicity.
Admitting the hurdles like unavailability of internet services at all places at the beginning , Khandu expressed optimism that once implemented there won’t be any unfinished, half-finished, over-the-budget and prolonged projects in the state.
Lauding the contribution of engineers in building the state, Khandu urged them to deliver to the optimum and assured the government’s full cooperation.
“You have a government at place with willpower as well as political will, which is ready to back you up when required. You need not fear anybody. Be committed to your responsibilities and do not compromise with quality development of the state,†he beckoned.
Khandu appreciated the theme for this year’s celebration – Engineering for Change – which he said is urgently needed for Arunachal Pradesh.
Calling for change in planning, designing and use of technology specific to the geological conditions for creating infrastructure, Khandu however pointed that first the change should from within.
“Yes we need change in knowledge and technology but first we need change in our mindset. Without changing our old mindset and the thought process, nothing will change,†he said.
While welcoming new technologies, Khandu advised engineers to also study and learn from traditional methods of constructions that have withstood time and nature. He gave an example of the iron-chain linked suspension bridge at Chaksam near Mogto village over Tawangchu River in Tawang district.
“This bridge was built in the 1450s by Lama Chaksam Wangpo and it is fabled that 108 similar bridges were built by him in the entire region. The said bridge is still serving its purpose!†he informed.
Advocating creating infrastructure should not be at the cost of environment and cultural identity of the state, Khandu suggested incorporating traditional architectural designs in constructing public buildings and other structures.
Responding to a three-point memorandum submitted by the Arunachal Pradesh Engineer Service Association (APESA) – organizers of the function – Khandu assured he would take up the issues with the Chief Secretary and do the necessary.
The demands include – complete halt on functional posts and conduction of DPCs on time, appointment of eligible senior engineers as head (Secretary) of all work departments and creation of post of the Engineer-in-Chief where more than one Chief Engineers exist at present.
Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar called engineers as epicenter of life as ‘everyday life revolves around engineers’ as life wouldn’t be life as it is today without the creations of engineers.
“Arunachal Pradesh is passing through a transition phase and engineers are the wheels of transition,†he said and assured his availability 24×7 for any issue or work.