GUWAHATI, May 4 � The fact that it took five days to locate the wreckage of the chopper carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu exposes the hollowness of the claims of Government of India that the country is now a technologically advanced nation, said the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU).
Talking to The Assam Tribune, AAPSU adviser Gumjum Haider, who is also the general secretary of the North East Students' Organization (NESO), said that the tragic incident and the delay in finding the wreckage proved that India is still not well equipped to deal with disasters.
Haider said that rather than the personnel of the forces, common people of Arunachal Pradesh were more involved in the search operations to locate the wreckage of the chopper and in fact, the common people managed to locate it too. He admitted that the terrain where the chopper crashed is a hostile one, but it is unfortunate that the Government of India still does not have the technology to locate the site of a helicopter crash, he said.
The AAPSU adviser alleged that the Government of India was to be blamed for the death of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister as he had to use
chopper in hostile weather condition only because the State does not have proper road communication.
Even after so many years of Independence, the Government of India failed to take effective steps to improve the communication network in the State and till date, the district headquarters of the State are not connected to the State capital by all weather roads, he pointed out.
Haider said that Khandu had to rush to Tawang by chopper to receive the Lok Sabha Speaker who was to visit the area. "Khandu went by chopper because of the poor road condition and he was returning as the visit of the Lok Sabha Speaker's visit was cancelled. He could have traveled by road but he could not do so only because of the poor road condition," he added.
The NESO general secretary further alleged that India is not at all equipped to face any war with China and till date, there is no pillar to demarcate the McMahon line. "In case of war with China, the people of Arunachal Pradesh will be the first to die and the Government of India is not at all concerned about our safety," he alleged.
