ITANAGAR, 16 Sep: The Arunachal Youth Organization (AYO) submitted a three-point representation to the chief minister on Tuesday, demanding revocation of the 1978 Forest Act and de-reserving the ICR and some towns and villages which fall within the jurisdiction of the Itanagar wildlife sanctuary/Durpang reserved forest as per the 1978 Forest Act passed by the then Arunachal Pradesh government.
The organization asked the government to redraw of the map of the Itanagar wildlife sanctuary/Durpang reserved forest, excluding the ICR and some towns and villages from the wildlife sanctuary/reserve forest area,and to declare these particular regions as de-reserved areas.
The organization said that, as per the DC’s order dated 15 June, 2022, in the ICR region, many towns and villages fall under the wildlife sanctuary and the Durpang reserved forest. It said this order was based on the 1978 Forest Act, which was passed without proper public awareness and without the knowledge of the settlers in said region.
“No single representative was taken into consideration when this 1978 Forest Act was passed in Guwahati,” the organization said, and added that “if the 1978 Forest Act is implemented in the ICR, then millions of settlers and office establishment have to be shifted to some suitable place, which is not an easy task and almost next to impossible.”
Other demands of the organization included scrapping of the 80:20 ratio for Grade C posts.
Demanding 100 percent job quota for APST candidates, the organization said that “90% of our youths are unemployed and jobless despite their high qualification and giving 20% quota to non-APSTs hascurtailed the opportunities of unemployed youths.”
It demanded immediate cancellation of the 80:20 ratio and said that ST and PRC should be made mandatory as part of the eligibility criteria.
The organization further demanded that poor and middle class people be exempted from installation of smart meters as they cannot bear the high monthly electricity bills, compared to the normal meter.
Smart meters should be installed at commercial places like shopping complexes, malls, etc, not at the houses of poor or middle class people, the representation said.
