ITANAGAR, March 6 - Arunachal Chief Minister Kalikho Pul on Saturday called on Assam Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya in Guwahati and had a detailed discussion on various issues pertaining to both the States.
Pul was in Guwahati to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Justice Ajit Singh, an official release informed.
Pul during the meeting discussed sensitive issues like decades-old boundary row between Assam-Arunachal, differences of opinion on hydroelectric projects, means and measures to build up strong ties and maintain age-old bonhomie between the two neighbours.
�Assam has always been a parent and a big brother of Arunachal Pradesh. It is for this reason that 99 per cent of Arunachalees can speak and understand Assamese while legends like Dr Bhupen Hazarika and his melodious songs still reverberate and echo in the hills and valleys of the State,� Pul said.
As a mark of respect to Hazarika, the Chief Minister informed that the State Government would immediately release Rs 1 crore to erect his statue in the State capital region and put up his images in all the vital entry points along Assam-Arunachal border.
�We shall make a garden where legend Bhupen Hazarika�s statue would be erected alongside other eminent personalities and artists of the State,� he said.
On the border row, Pul said that he believed in solving the differences mutually rather than going to court for settlement. �As the two States have been a family sharing good and bad times together for ages together, people of both the sides must maintain the centuries� old mutual trust, love and age-old relationship of bonhomie,� the Chief Minister maintained.
Pul made it clear that hydropower projects would minimise the flood impact of Assam to a great extent. The Chief Minister also sought the support of Assam Government and the people in developing hydro projects in Arunachal Pradesh for betterment of all.
Governor Acharya advised Pul to introduce foreign languages in the universities and higher studies institutions of the State in view of Arunachal sharing strategic international borders with China, Bhutan and Myanmar.
�By doing so, you will help the country improve the bi-lateral relations, besides opening gates for border trade for economic growth of the region and improving the social as well as economic ties,� the Governor said. � PTI
