Tibetan rehab policy not to affect indigenous population: BJP

Itagar, Aug 30: Amid growing protest from various student organizations on the recent decision of the Aruchal Pradesh Cabinet to implement the Tibetan Rehabilitation policy 2014 in the State, the BJP today said that the policy will not affect the indigenous population in any way.

“The Tibetans are not claiming any citizenship but staying in three settlements in the state in a much organized way unlike the Chakma and Hajong refugees,” state BJP president Tapir Gao said during an interaction with mediapersons.

He said, the State government has no separate policy on the Tibetans but following the central policy which is mandatory as India was a sigtory of the Geneva Agreement. “The Rehabilitation Policy was framed during 1959 when Dalai Lama fled Tibet and took political asylum in India. The policy which is being reviewed every 20 years is not an Act so far. Since we respect human rights so we are obliged to follow the policy,” he said.

As per 2009 census, a total of 1,10,095 Tibetans are present in the country and settled in 45 settlements in ten states including six in Kartaka, one each in Maharashtra, Odisha and Chattisgarh, three in Aruchal Pradesh, two in Sikkim, two in West Bengal, four in Uttarakhand, 16 in Himachal Pradesh and nine in Jammu and Kashmir.Gao informed that out of the 7,530 Tibetans settled in three settlements in the State, 935 have been rehabilitated in Cada last year.

“As per the Rehabili-tation Policy, in every five year the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) conducts census of the Tibetan refugees and submit report to the Centre as well as the respective state governments,” Gao said.

He said the Centre found that the level of assistance and facilities extended by various state governments to the Tibetans were not uniform for which the Rehabilitation Policy 2014 was framed to provide an uniform guideline demarcating the facilities to be extended to the Tibetan refugees living within the jurisdiction of each state government.

As per the policy, the state government necessarily should sign a lease document for the land occupied by the Tibetans for a period of 20 years or till it is revoked or cancelled. Moreover, Rent Tency Certificate should be issued by the respective state governments and land under their occupation should not be disturbed.