Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu offers an olive branch to agitators, calls for meeting

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday invited the members of the Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee—APPSC—for discussion on their 13-point demands and appealed to them to call off the agitation. He requested the members of the committee and all stakeholders attend the meeting at the civil secretariat here on Saturday at 11 a.m. to discuss the issues. “The protestors should call off their agitations and should not create an ugly law-and-order situation that will be detrimental to the state.” “A bandh call will not solve any issues that should be resolved through discussions,” Khandu told a press conference at his residence here. “Our intention was only to overhaul the Commission and give reprieve to innocent aspirants who unfortunately became victims of the paper leakage scam.” With that intention we gave advertisement for filling up the posts of chairman and members of the commission and followed it up with the laid down norms for formation of a commission and make it functional as soon as possible,” he said.

“We believed that the formation of the Commission by swearing in the new chairman and members would be for the public’s good as it would pave the way for the conduct of examinations and offer aspirants a fair opportunity without wasting much time,” he pointed out. However, it has come to our attention that several aspirants, their parents, and the general public are not in agreement with the steps we are taking and therefore came out on the streets to protest. Respecting their sentiment, the government has decided to call off the scheduled oath-taking ceremony. We will decide further action in this regard after detailed consultations with all stakeholders,” he added. Khandu reiterated that the revelation of the paper leakage scam was equally shocking to the government as it was to the general public.

He said that the government dealt with the situation with an iron hand from day one, and the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) of the state vigilance department was given a free hand to investigate the case and apprehend all who had a hand in it, irrespective of power or position. “The SIC was doing a commendable job, as proved by the many arrests that it made.” However, as demanded by the general public for a free and impartial enquiry by an independent and credible agency, we decided and requested the CBI to take over the investigations. The CBI has taken over the case from the SIC, and investigations are underway. “All persons involved will be punished sooner or later,” he said. Khandu reiterated that the government cannot interfere in the functioning of the Commission as it is an autonomous body. “It became evident to us that complete overhauling of the commission and reframing its standard operating procedures (SOP) is the only way forward to regain the faith of the people in the commission.” Therefore, to set the ball rolling, all members of the erstwhile commission resigned on moral ground,” he said. He said that it also came to light that the government officials posted in the Commission were staff of the autonomous body and did not come under the direct control of the state civil secretariat. To correct this and make the officials accountable, a cabinet meeting was held, at which it was decided to merge all government staff of the commission with the state civil secretariat. This way, he added, the government could take departmental action against any erring official of the Commission as they were no longer under the sole jurisdiction of the autonomous body.

Khandu appealed to all agitating youths and the general public to understand the situation and maintain peace. “We are more than concerned about the unfortunate paper leakage and determined to revive and rejuvenate the APPSC.” “We have no other intention but to provide free, fair, and equal opportunities to our youths through the Commission,” he added. The Chief Minister, while expressing concern over the law-and-order situation, said that the government would bear the cost of medical treatment for the injured.

Scores of protestors and police personnel were injured following clashes among them, which compelled the police to resort to lathi-charges and firing tear gas shells during the “public” bandh called to press for the fulfilment of the 13-point charter of demands of the Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee-APPSC related to the alleged leak of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) question paper. The bandh began at 5 a.m., and thousands of people, including aggrieved aspirants and their parents, came out to the streets of the capital town in the early morning hours to demand cancellation of the scheduled swearing-in of the new APPSC chairman and members on Friday evening.

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