NEW DELHI, Feb 8 - Black flags will greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visits Arunachal Pradesh tomorrow with the Congress on Friday opposing the move to inaugurate the Tezu Airport at Itanagar by the Prime Minister.
Addressing a press conference here, former Lok Sabha member and Congress leader Takam Sanjoy said that the Tezu Airport is located in East Arunachal Pradesh and the Prime Minister will be inaugurating it at Itanagar.
The airport was a project undertaken during the UPA regime and the NDA Government has not spent a single rupee on the project, Sanjoy said, adding that Modi is inaugurating a number of projects in Arunachal Pradesh tomorrow, most of which were started during the UPA regime.
The Prime Minister will inaugurate the Tezu Airport at the Indira Gandhi Park in Itanagar, said Sanjoy.
He further alleged that works on none of the projects announced during Modi�s earlier visits have started. There will be a black flag protest against the Prime Minister�s visit. �Black flag is a sign of our indignation,� said Sanjoy.
The Congress leader said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is a big slap on the people of the North East, describing it as a draconian legislation. �It is even more dangerous than the AFSPA,� he maintained.
Itanagar Correspondent adds: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) will observe a �black day� on Saturday in protest against the Prime Minister�s �gross failure� to bring in development to the frontier State.
�Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s visit tomorrow to Arunachal Pradesh will be observed as Black Day by the Congress Party and representatives of various NGOs and civil society, for his gross failure to bring development to the state during his tenure which is nearing its end,� APCC president Takam Sanjoy said in a press statement from New Delhi this evening.
The greenfield airport, the foundation stone of which is scheduled to be laid by the Prime Minister, �has not been in reality sanctioned by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. The exact official status is that it has been passed by the Project Investment Board (PIB) of the GoI only and has not gone through the process of sanction at all.
�I question the PM as to how he can lay the foundation of a project without the sanction of the GoI and its related agencies? The land compensation of Rs 175 cr given so far is from the coffers of the State Government whereas as per rule, land compensation has to be given by the Centre. All these anomalies point to the desperation of the NDA Government to prove a point with hollow intentions for Arunachal Pradesh marked by mere tokenism and not substance,� Sanjoy claimed.
He said the Congress�s protest would be significant as the Prime Minister�s visit comes against the backdrop of the growing angst against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
�A mistake of this magnitude will put generations into destruction and will give easy licence to refugees, foreigners and illegal migrants,� he added.
