Behavioural change needed to attract outside investments to Arunachal Pradesh: Rijiju

Itanagar: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday advocated for a behavioural change among the people to attract outside investments to Arunachal Pradesh, which will help in creating jobs.

The people of the state should create a conducive atmosphere by changing their behaviour towards outside investors so that investment flows to Arunachal Pradesh, a resource crunch state, the minister for parliamentary affairs and minority affairs said while addressing a function, organised to felicitate him for being inducted into the Union Cabinet.

"A peaceful atmosphere should be created in the state so that people from outside who are willing to invest in private sectors feel secure. Even a single instance of law and order issue will create a bad image of the state," Rijiju, who represents the Arunachal West constituency, said.

"Employment is the biggest challenge in the state. Today, jobs cannot be obtained through degrees but it requires skill. We will have to change our perception and will have to work to create job opportunities through skill development," he added.

Rijiju said only the private sector can create large-scale employment opportunities.

"For that, people need to change their behaviour towards outside investors and should create an atmosphere of peace and security so that the investors evince interest to invest, which in turn will create jobs," he said.

For such a situation, society should shoulder the responsibility and only then Arunachal Pradesh could be a favourable investment and tourist destination in the near future, the minister said.

"The land in Arunachal Pradesh belongs to the tribal community and the government cannot allot free land to investors to start their venture. Hydropower is the only sector for investment and people should cooperate with the power developers to invest in the sector," he said.

Expressing gratitude to the people of the state for their mandate to elect him for a fourth term, Rijiju said that the support would inspire him to work more dedicatedly for the development of the state.

"The faith reposed on me by the people of my state as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I assure you that I will leave no stone unturned to keep the aspirations alive," he asserted and added that he will go the extra mile to provide long-term support to the state from the Centre.