All Tawang District Students Union demand probe into Scheduled Tribe (ST) status at Itanagar

A CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR, Jul 27: The chairman of All Tawang District Students Union (ATDSU) and member of Operation Clean Drive (OCD) Pema Tsering said that hearing on the ST status issue of Sonam Tsomu, Pema Dolma and Sonam Dolma will be held at DC office on October 2.

Sonam Tsomu, Pema Dolma and Sonam Dolma are the selected aspirants of the recently declared General Duty Medical Officer Examination (GD-DMO) results held by the Arunachal Public Service Commission (APSC). Pema Tsering said that the fathers of those three candidates hail from the same Shyo village which was notified by the State government as a ‘refugee village’.

When asked why the team OCD focused only on these three girls, Tsering said that we have full proof on these girls so we are initiating action against them. He also stated that a man named Lobsang Dargay from the district who has worked under Tibetan Army is availing dual benefit. When approached, the district administration clearly said the ST status cannot be cancelled as it was provided by the district office. We don’t have any notion why the reply was so immature, he added.

ATDSU president Mindu Tsering also said that they had approached the deputy commissioner of the district to verify the genealogical tree with respect to the 90 families settled before Independence in the Shyo village for the Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe (APST) certificate.

Till date there has been no update on the verification, for which the ATDSU has asked the district administration to constitute a fact-finding committee too.