Itanagar, Oct 14 (IANS) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said on Wednesday that inter-state boundary disputes involving 123 villages along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border had been largely resolved under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

Khandu said that 31 of the 32 disputed areas in Papum Pare district had been settled following recent joint field visits by regional committees.

Assam and Arunachal Pradesh share an inter-state boundary stretching over 804 km, with the two states engaged in efforts to resolve long-pending disputes over their border.

The Chief Minister also said that efforts to address other long-pending issues, including the Chakma question, were progressing.

He added that the people would be informed about developments at the appropriate time.

Khandu on Wednesday inaugurated the Donyi Polo Multipurpose Hall at the Galo Heritage Centre at Tarajuli, near Naharlagun, describing it as a landmark of community participation and cultural resolve.

The Chief Minister said the project was far more than a government-funded building.

The Mopin ground at Naharlagun, in use since 1976, was handed over voluntarily by the Galo community to make way for the state’s first medical college, the Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS).

Urging society to value all work equally, Chief Minister Khandu added that countries that have developed, place high dignity on labour, and encouraged Arunachal Pradesh to build a similar work culture.

He called for local youth to be trained in construction, electrical and plumbing trades, so that the state depends less on outside skilled workers.

He cited a batch of 50 youths sent to the National Skill Centre in Hyderabad, who later executed a project in Pasighat for Rs 10 lakh against a Rs 18 lakh quotation from an outside team.

Warning that Arunachal Pradesh’s tribal populations are small in the national context, the Chief Minister said identity is at risk if language and tradition are lost.

While the government can only support through policy, he said, communities themselves must preserve their heritage and pass it on.

Referring to artificial intelligence and machine learning, the Chief Minister urged people to use technology as a servant rather than become subservient to it, and to prepare for its impact on jobs without losing age-old culture.

Highlighting the state’s decade of governance, CM Khandu noted that more than 1.5 lakh women are organised in more than 16,000 self-help groups and that nearly 46 per cent of startups are women-led.

He said these efforts follow the principle of Vikas, Sewa and Virasat, citing support for indigenous Gurukul schools, 20 GI-tagged Arunachal products and steps to strengthen legal protection of indigenous faiths, as well as high-powered committees on Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe safeguards, the Inner Line Permit framework and illegal infiltration, to be addressed through dialogue and consensus.

Inviting every community to reflect on the road to 2047 as Arunachal Pradesh completes forty years of statehood on February 20, 2027, the Chief Minister urged young people to remain proud of their roots while staying confident in a fast-changing world.

–IANS

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