PPA demands rectification of Statehood Act

From Our Correspondent

Itagar, Feb 19: The People’s Party of Aruchal (PPA) has urged the Central Government to amend the defective Statehood Act of 1987, saying that the Act has left the people of the state with practically no ownership rights over own resources. “We want to be placed at par with the states of galand and Mizoram with Article-317 (A) status in the Constitution of India. This status gives the indigenous people the ownership right over their indigenous resources,” the PPA said in a statement. “It is a tragedy to see the Government of Aruchal Pradesh gearing up to celebrate yet another Statehood Day, its 31st year spending crores of money in a very extravagant way while the Statehood Act has robbed us of our traditiol ownership rights over our tural resources, like the rich flora and fau, the rivers, forests, land and its underground resources,” the PPA rued.

The PPA, a partner of the NDA Government under the umbrella of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), said that the state government should liaise with the central leaders to correct the defective Statehood Act of 1987 by bringing about an amendment in the Constitution rather than inviting the central leaders during the celebration of Statehood Day “just to please them for announcement of packages which will be repeatedly misappropriated by the legislators in collusion with various Heads of Departments.” “It is high time that the people of the state realize that because of these very lacue in the Statehood Act of 1987, most of the MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) on various hydropower projects in the state were secretly signed off outside the state without prior consent and knowledge of the stakeholders,” the PPA claimed.

It further said that the people of the state find its own elected leaders not being decisive on many core issues of state interest; the reason being the state’s complete dependence on Central Government Grants and Aids for its survival. ‘This decades old “Dependency Syndrome’ has become so deep-rooted that we just trample the state interest to keep in the good books of the government in New Delhi,’ the PPA said.

Pointing out the political instability plaguing the state, the PPA justified that this has been mainly caused because of recurring illegal ‘mergers’ just to be in line with the tiol political parties ruling the centre due to economic dependence on centre for everything.