PPA castigates Centre for PAP relaxation

Our correspondent

Itagar, April 1: The People’s Party of Aruchal (PPA) has criticized the BJP-led government at the Centre for its reported move to relax the Protected Area Permit (PAP) to attract the foreign tourists’ inflow.

Stating the Centre’s unilateral decision to relax PAP merely on the pretext of giving easy access to the foreign tourists, the party in a statement on Sunday said, “If at all the PAP has lost its relevance, the decision to relax this policy should have come from the (State’s) stakeholders through its elected legislators instead of the imposed decision coming from New Delhi.”

The lone regiol party of the State further castigated the State government for its alleged whimsical policy decisions, including the surprise hike of land compensation rates and illegal adoption of pick and choose mode in the appointment of members for Aruchal Pradesh State Commission for Women (APSCW).

“The BJP government in the State has been taking whimsical and irratiol decisions on many issues of State importance, which might have far-reaching effects in the near future.  It might also damage the socio-economic fabric of the State,” PPA chairman Kamen Ringu said.

“With both the Centre and the State under the rule of the same political party, the situation at the moment could have been used to amend the ‘defective’ Aruchal Pradesh Statehood Act of 1986, in terms of giving ownership rights of indigenous resources of the State to its tives,” observed the senior PPA leader.

Ringu said the PPA has always been fighting on the defective Statehood Act of 1986, but the Centre as well as the State government seem not be paying any heed to the issue.

PPA president Kahfa Bengia said the policy decision on important issues like land rates should be debated among the stakeholders across the State.

The party, meanwhile, urged the State government to convene an all-party meeting on this issue at the earliest and invite members from various civil societies for a healthy debate.