Manmohan Singh

New Delhi/Itanagar, Jan. 30: A small gift of a subsidy to operate a commercial helicopter service between Guwahati and Tawang has raised great expectations on the eve of Manmohan Singh’s maiden visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

Singh will be the first Prime Minister to set foot on Arunachal Pradesh soil in over a decade. The last to visit the state, bordering China, was H.D. Deve Gowda in 1996.

The weatherman has forecast rain and thundershowers across Arunachal Pradesh over the next couple of days, but the Union cabinet’s decision to grant a subsidy for the helicopter service will have warmed up the political establishment already. The subsidy amount will be 75 per cent of the actual cost of operation of the MI-172 helicopter service, minus fares collected from passengers.

The ceiling for flying hours is 52 hours per month and the arrangement is for a year, after which it will be reviewed.

The helicopter service is expected to increase tourist traffic to and from Tawang, which has Asia’s second largest Buddhist monastery and is one of the few unspoilt destinations in the eastern Himalayas.

Two Greenfield airports for Itanagar and Tawang were approved last year itself.

Singh’s Arunachal Pradesh itinerary is hectic. Besides inaugurations and foundation-laying engagements in and around Itanagar, the Prime Minister will visit Lohit and Anjaw districts to interact with army personnel stationed along the border with China.

Singh visited China, which occasionally lays claim to parts of the state, only a fortnight ago.

In a letter to the Prime Minister this week, BJP parliamentarians Khiren Rijiju and Tapir Gao asked for a “categorical declaration” before his visit that India would not concede even an inch of land to China.

Chief minister Dorjee Khandu has more “local” interests in mind. He said the people of Arunachal Pradesh were looking forward to the Prime Minister’s visit and the announcement of a special economic package to put the state on the track to speedy development.

He said the special package could include funds for a 3,000-km-long road connecting all the districts — Arunachal Pradesh is geographically the largest state of the Northeast — and grants for micro hydel projects and electrification of 1,798 villages.

Sources in New Delhi said Singh, who has twice cancelled plans to visit Arunachal Pradesh, would most likely not disappoint anyone.

He will lay the foundations of the 3,000-MW multipurpose Dibang power project, the Pare power project, the Itanagar water supply project and a railway head between Harmutty in Assam’s Lakhimpur district and the state capital.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to address a public meeting in Itanagar before flying to Kibitho in Anjaw district and Lohitpur in Lohit district on February 1.