Inner Line Permit: Arunachal Pradesh

July 16, 2017

Inner Line Permit: Arunachal Pradesh

Inner Line Permit (ILP) is mandatory for all tourists including Indian nationals to Arunachal Pradesh. Permits will not be issued to non-Indians to some sensitive areas like Anjaw district. Permits are issued for each individual ‘Circuit’. A ‘circuit’ is a set of districts that are pre-decided by the government. So if one if planning for to do an east-west trip of Arunachal Pradesh, 5-6 separate ILP’s will be required. Permits were not required for the 3 year old kid. I decided to explore the various options available for obtaining permits in Guwahati.

Mechuka Fields

Online permits: The easiest way to obtain ILP is with the online application system. It usually takes about 3 days working days for ILP’s to be issued online. I have been told that sometimes it can get delayed by a week.

Permits Facilitation centre: ILP can be also be obtained from the ‘Permits Facilitation centre’ situated at near Nepali Mandir/Assam Forest Office at Paltan Bazar. Photos for the permits are taken with a webcam and the permits are issued immediately. Each circuit costs Rs 500/- each. Permits issued here are valid for a month. The ‘Permits Facilitation centre’ is the ideal place to obtain permits for those in a hurry.

Walong Military airstrip. Perhaps the eastern-most airstrip of Inda

Arunachal Pradesh House: Situated at Rukmini Gaon, The Arunachal Pradesh House is a major office for Arunachal Pradesh. Each permit issued here costs Rs.25. The ILP request forms are collected by noon and the permits are issued by 1630-1700 Hrs on the same day. It is mandatory to meet the Resident Officer with all the relevant documentation. The advantage of obtaining permits here is that the Resident Officer has the discretionary authority to grant permits to as many districts as he pleases one single permit. We chose to get our permits done at the Arunachal Pradesh House it cost us only a total of Rs50 as opposed to Rs3000 (2 People X 3 Circuits) at the Permits Facilitation center. The permits issued from the ‘Arunachal Pradesh House’ are valid only for 15 days.

At Airport: Permits are also issued at the Arunachal Pradesh Tourism counter at Guwahati airport.

ILP’s permits are supposed to be checked at district borders. Ironically, the enforcement/ verification of these permits (at least for Indian nationals) are very lax. Nobody checked our permits during the entire trip.

Caution: Even though I had permits for Thirap and Changlang districts, I was advised by people in Arunachal not to go there. There districts are unsafe due to insurgency in the nearby states .