Centre's proposal to set up film institute in Arunachal Pradesh draws the ire of neighbouring Northeast states

NEW DELHI: Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India may have been in the midst of a controversy raging since last month, with students protesting the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as chairman, but another such institute coming up in Arunachal has become the envy of other states in the Northeast.

The chief ministers of Manipur and Mizoram have vehemently registered their protest with Home Minister Rajnath Singh over Arunachal Pradesh being chosen by the Centre as the site for the proposed National Film and Television Institute and Animation.

Singh, who was in Guwahati last week to chair a meeting with chief ministers of all states in the Northeast, was stumped when amid a debate on security issues the CMs of Manipur and Mizoram started citing the scenic beauty of their respective states to question why they were ignored for the institute.

"We make maximum regional movies in the Northeast. In fact, my state has produced nearly 60 national award-winning films. Despite that, Arunachal Pradesh was granted the new film institute," Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh is said to have told the home minister.

Mizoram Chief Minister M Lal Thanawala said his state is the most scenic in the region and therefore a natural contender for the institute. "If we had been given the institute, more filmmakers would have chosen us to shoot films in the state," he told Singh.