Arunachal: Villagers of West Siang district threaten to boycott 2024 LS polls

The Arunachal Pradesh government assured the people of three villages in West Siang district, who threatened to boycott the 2024 elections, that a bridge will be constructed over the Hijum River by March next year. 

About 400 people of three villages -- Rime Moko, Pidi Rime and Todi Rime -- threatened to boycott the elections, if the government fails to construct a permanent bridge over the river. 

There is a 20-metre-long makeshift bridge over the river that locals made to connect the two sides but it usually goes below the water during the monsoon as the level of Hijum, a tributary of Pisam, rises. 

Government spokesperson Nyamar Karbak met a team of the Rime Welfare Society (RWS), which has been demanding the bridge, and assured it that the government would sanction funds for the construction of an all-weather road with a bridge over the river. 

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Karbak, who is also the MLA of the Liromoba constituency in the district, said the state government has already given necessary instructions to departments concerned to expedite the works, including survey, estimate and preparation of a detailed project report (DPR). "The state government has assured to complete the construction of the road and bridge over Hijum river before March next year," RWS general secretary Pokpe Rime said. 

A team from the Rural Works Department (RWD) surveyed the site on August 10 for the construction of the bridge, he said. An estimate prepared by the RWD in Aalo, the headquarters of West Siang district, has already been submitted to the chief engineer (eastern zone), he added. 

"We have not called off our threat to boycott the polls. If the government is serious and fulfil our demand, we will certainly call it off," Rime said. The villages are in the Aalo West assembly constituency, which is represented by Industries Minister Tumke Bagra, and the Arunachal West Lok Sabha constituency which is represented by Union Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju.