Pageant organizers clarify stand
Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Jun 4: The organizers of the 7th edition of Mrs Arunachal pageant – the Abu Ane MPC Society (AAMPCS) and the Muskaan Women Foundation (MWF) – on Monday clarified their position in the controversy over alleged “unfair treatment” meted out by the organizing committee to some of the contestants.
“The organizing committee conducted the pageant according to the standard norms of national and international level beauty pageants, and no unfair treatment was meted out to the contestants as has been alleged,” AAMPCS spokesman Talam Har Neelam told media persons at the press club here.
He also denied the allegation made by one of the contestants, Dr Uma Natung Rimo, that members of the committee threatened her.
“The allegation is baseless. We have never threatened her. We simply asked for her clarification over the allegations she made on social media platforms against the pageants’ organizing committee, accusing them of unfair treatment,” said Neelam.
Referring to the allegation that the marking criteria were unfair, Neelam said the contestants knew about the marking system from the beginning.
“The winner had to be declared based on the aggregation of the marks given by the judges, the choreographer, and the organizing committee, coupled with the results based on the overall performance of the contestant throughout the competition,” he said.
Regarding the allegations made by Dr Natung Rimo and Jingchang Chai that they were handed empty envelopes instead of cash prizes, he said “The contestants, instead of creating a ruckus during the event, could have approached the organizing committee and the whole issue could have been addressed in a more dignified way.”
MWF chairperson and organizing secretary Ngurang Anung while admitting that the event was marred by a few “technical issues,” said they have already apologized to the contestants in this regard.
“However, none of the contestants has approached us after the event. They should have placed their grievances with the organizing committee if they had been dissatisfied with the pageant during any stage of the competition, but instead chose to create unwanted controversy,” she said.
