Arunachal setting up 17 mini-hydro electric projects to light up border villages

In a push to Atmanirbhar Bharat, Arunachal Pradesh government is setting up 17 micro-hydroelectric projects in order to provide "reliable and non-polluting" electricity to the remote villages situated along the Indo-China borders.

Construction of the hydel projects has already started and is likely to be completed next year. "The project will also enable community ownership wherein their operations will be handed over to community or Border Guarding Forces," Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu said Monday.

The projects were taken up after it was observed that many people were shifting from the border villages due to a lack of basic facilities including electricity. "We aim to create model villages in the remote border areas with best infrastructure facilities and services to prevent depopulation of these villages. So, development of the border areas has been our primary focus," Khandu said.

"The Vibrant Village Programme, which was announced in this year's union budget has the potential to bring in all-round development in the border areas. This programme is in tune with the existing border development initiatives in the state. We aim to work by converging the State and Central schemes for overall development of border areas in the state," Khandu further said.

The state government has earmarked Rs 16 crore for providing 6,000 streetlights in 700 border villages. Solar electrification of eight remote villages in Tali circle of Kra Daadi district was also carried out in partnership with Sri Sri Rural Development Trust, in which one third of the total expenditure of Rs 1.5 crore was contributed by the trust and rest was borne by the state government.