In what can be termed a horrific act of violence, the executive engineer of the PWD Longding division was beaten up and looted by miscreants last Friday at his home. It is believed that the goons first tried to extort money from him and when he refused, he was severely assaulted. This is a highly condemnable crime. The police should make sure that the criminals are strongly punished for the crime. These kinds of intimidation and assault on government officials are occurring on a regular interval in the state.
Such incidents not only raise question marks over the law and order situation but also give a bad name to the state. The present government under the leadership of Chief Minister Pema Khandu has been trying hard to attract investors by beefing up security in the state. An incident like Longding puts cold water on such efforts. If Arunachal has to truly progress, a congenial atmosphere should be developed in the state. No one will invest in the state if there is a hostile atmosphere. What worries the authorities is that, most of the time incidents of intimidation/threat are not reported to the police. The victim often compromises with the criminals and matters are not brought to the public domain. This happens because there is a lack of confidence in the state police. Criminals often walk free after committing the most heinous crime here in Arunachal. The state police need to drastically work on this aspect and improve the investigation process.