ITANAGAR, Nov 9: The All Puroik Welfare Society (APWS) has written to the chief electorate officer (CEO) to allocate one MLA seat to someone from the Puroik community, in pursuance of the high court order in PIL No 19/2014 (APWS vs the state of Arunachal Pradesh & Ors).
In its representation to the CEO, the society said that reservation of a legislative assembly (LA) seat should be implemented in the next legislative election.
It further said that steps may be taken to implement fully the high-power committee report to uplift the Puroik community, “a tribe that has traditionally been slaves, and bring them at par with other communities of the state.”
“It is well known to everyone that Puroiks are being subjected to social economic discriminations. Awareness is required to be generated among the people, so that the Puroiks are freed from bonded labour, for which an independent representative is required to raise the voice of the society in the legislative assembly,” it said.
It further said that the state government constituted the Autonomous Puroik Welfare Board (APWB) in 2017 but till date the MLA seat has not been provided. “The APWB is represented by an IAS officer who is not aware of the difficulties being faced by the society at the grassroots level,” it added.
