Planning for security plays dividends in Arunachal districts

ITANAGAR: Meticulous planning for security in Arunachal Pradesh's disturbed Tirap and Changlang districts, infested by underground and terrorist outfits, led to a heavy turnout in the recently concluded panchayat elections, in comparison to 2003.

Both the districts are under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

The panchayat elections could not be held in 2003 in Tirap, used by the underground as a transit corridor from their bases across Myanmer border.

This time it not only participated in the elections on May 26, but also recorded 84.19 per cent polling, the highest in the state and without any violence surprising all.

Changlang recorded the second highest polling of 83.50 per cent.

State election commissioner J M Tangu singled out the deputy commissioners of Tirap and Changlang, Ankur Garg and H Batt respectively, whose special planning in the past three months instilled confidence in the people to vote.