Itanagar, Jan 29 (Reporter) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu expressed concern over rampant earth cutting in the twin capital cities of Itanagar and Naharlagun, causing damage to the picturesque landscape.To stop this, he advocated a change in mindset of citizens. Khandu also urged the citizens of Itanagar to exercise caution and display responsibility in preserving the natural beauty that defines the town.“Itanagar is our face and we must further develop the vibrant city,” the CM stated in a social media post after attending the Itanagar Municipal Corporation (IMC)’s first Foundation Day celebration at the DK Convention Centre here on Monday.“Whenever I fly over the capital city, it pains me to see the hills being bulldozed, trees being cut all over. Why can’t we let the hills and greenery remain even while building houses?” he said in his address during the function.Khandu drew attention to the practices followed by people in other hill states like Sikkim, where they design and build houses according to the terrain without resorting to massive earth cutting.He said people of the state capital here are in fact wasting huge amounts of money in earth cutting only, which escalates the cost of building a residence to maximum, sometimes beyond thought of.The other problem of rampant earth cutting, the Chief Minister pointed out, is that people do it in the winters and when summer comes with its rains, sand, gravel and mud from these sites are washed down blocking drains and damaging roads.“And then they start blaming the government,” he said and advised the urban local body, IMC, to create awareness amongst the citizens.He said that one major issue in the Capital Complex that needs urgent attention and solution is solid waste management.“I am happy that IMC after visiting several waste management projects in other states have zeroed down on the best practices and have come up with a vision plan. Two solid waste management plants are to be developed - one for Naharlagun and one for Itanagar. We need to get these plants going urgently. Depending on their success, we plan to develop similar plants in the districts where waste management issue is no lesser,” Khandu said.The CM further raised the problem of single-use plastic that poses a serious threat to environmental pollution globally. “Single-use plastic needs a serious look. We plan to put in place a stringent policy in this regard and work on it. For short term practicality we cannot endanger our future, our planet,” he said.Reminding IMC of its role in development of the Capital Complex, Khandu said, “Itanagar is our face and we must further develop the vibrant city. On behalf of the state government I assure support and handholding to IMC in its journey towards transforming the city.”Few other issues flagged by Khandu that IMC needs to look into include traffic congestion, parking spaces, regularization and demarcation of weekly haats, etc.The event was also attended by MLAs Tana Hali Tara and Hayeng Mangfi, IMC Mayor Tamme Phassang, Corporators, IMC officials and other guests...////...