Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu on June 25 inaugurated Tawang district’s second VKV School at Mukto village in presence of Union MoS home affairs Kiren Rijiju, RWD parliamentary secretary Jambey Tashi and Tawang MLA Tsering Tashi.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister informed that the school at Mukto village was earlier a government higher secondary school which has been handed over to Vivekananda Kendra to run as VKV School.
Khandu said that the state government has passed a resolution in the cabinet allowing the private NGOs and missionaries working in the education sector to be invited to take over government schools.
The chief minister said that the VKV has made immense contribution towards education in Arunachal. In honour of such contributions, he said the state government has contributed Rs 40 crores as corpus fund for VKV.
Rijiju in his speech said VKV is the right platform that provides education based on cultural values so that children can learn to reflect upon their culture, culture of others and culture in general.
Inauguration of hydro electric project:
Chief minister Pema Khandu along with Union MoS home affairs Kiren Rijiju inaugurated the 6MW Shaikangchu Small Hydro Electric Project (SHEP) at Gongkhar village in Mukto constituency on June 25.
The chief minister in his speech said the Shaikangchu SHEP is the biggest project undertaken by the department of hydropower in the state and congratulated the officials for successfully completing the project.
“The hydel project will supply electricity to 27 villages around Mukto circle and surplus power generated will be supplied to Tawang headquarters,” said Khandu.
He said the completion of Shaikangchu SHEP marks the culmination of an initiative that started in 2007 by former CM late Dorjee Khandu to make Tawang a power surplus district.
“Tawang today has 14 numbers of hydel stations with total installed capacity of 11.41 MW developed by hydropower department. With commissioning of Shaikangchu SHEP, the power generating capacity will be enhanced to 17.41 MW,” Khandu said.
The chief minister added that the development of small hydroelectric project will benefit underdeveloped rural areas by improving their living condition and informed that Shaikangchu project will generate revenue of Rs 8 crore annually.
Inauguration of bridge:
Khandu along with Rijiju also inaugurated a 50 metre span built-up Girder bridge over Tawang-Chu river, which is also known as Gongkhar to Tengthen bridge that will provide alternate connectivity between Tawang and Jang-Mukto constituencies.
RWD department executed the construction of the bridge at the cost of Rs 2.14 crore.
‘Tse Chu’ festival:
Earlier on June 24, chief minister Pema Khandu along with Union MoS home affairs Kiren Rijiju, RWD parliamentary secretary Jambey Tashi and Tawang MLA Tsering Tashi attended the annual celebration of ‘Tse Chu’ festival at Khinmey Sangnag Chockorlling Monastery in Tawang.
The celebration began with the colourful religious dances to commemorate the birth of Guru Padmasambhava or popularly known as Lopon Rinponche.
Devotees and followers of Nyingmapa Guru from all over Tawang and West Kameng district gathered at the Khinmey Gompa to attend the celebration dressed in their finest traditional clothing and jewellery.
Masked dancers performed Cham dances taking on the wrathful and compassionate deities and demons. Astaras or the clowns mimicking the dancers entertained the audience.
“On this pious occasion, people from all walks of life cleanse themselves of any misfortunes and take this opportunity to accumulate spiritual merits and to attain enlightenment, which is the ultimate goal of Buddhists,” said Khandu.
Rijiju in his speech said the purpose of any religion is to bring out the goodness in the people. He said the occasion provides us that opportunity to imbibe the teachings of Lord Buddha in our daily life to lead a disciplined life and be compassionate towards every human being.
