Arunachal CM Pema Khandu assured legislators on Monday that the state government would ask the Centre for early clearance of the proposed tourism circuit in troubled Tirap district.

Khandu while replying to a query by Senior Congress MLA Wanglin Lowangdong during question hour in the assembly said the state government had written a letter to the Union Tourism Ministry a few years ago to approve the proposal which is awaiting clearance from the Union Home Ministry.

“The matter is pending with the home ministry as at that point of time the security scenario of the district was not conducive. I will soon convene a meeting and send a fresh representation to the home ministry for early clearance of the tourism circuit within this year,” Pema Khandu said.

Two other disturbed districts – Changlang and Longding – in the eastern part of the state also need to be included in the tourist circuit, so that they develop at par with other parts of the northeastern state, he said.

Lowangdang also questioned the status of the tourism circuit connecting Deomali-Khonsa-Laju areas of the district with Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Assam where Tourism Minister Nakap Nalo replied that efforts are on to open up tourist circuits in several districts of the state.

“The government has been discussing with the Centre for opening more tourist circuits in the state by resolving all the issues including protected area permit (PAP) and the restricted area permit (RAP).”

“The Centre is working on the criteria for approving tourist circuits in the state,” Nalo said.

Last year, the Centre had declared three districts- Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts and four police stations- Namsai and Mahadevpur (Namsai district), Roing in Lower Dibang Valley and Sunpura in Lohit district  in Arunachal as “disturbed areas” as banned militant outfits like the NSCN, the ULFA and the NDFB present there.