The four-day mass casual leave availed by Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service (APCS) officers posted within and outside the state in protest against non-fulfillment of their demands ended on Friday. The protest, organised by the Arunachal Pradesh Civil Service Officers Association (APCSOA), deeply impacted the functioning of the government. The people, especially in the district headquarters and circles, suffered a lot. The APCS officers are the backbone of the governance in the state, and with them being away from the office, the governance took a hit.
The APCSOA has placed several demands on the state government and is upset with the government for failing to address them. The main sticking point seems to be the appointment of non-APCS officers as director’s of two departments, namely, ULB and IT. Also, the officers of the state’s elite service feel that their career growth is getting stagnant due to failure to conduct DPC meetings on time. Some of the other demands of the APCSOA are: review of hard and soft area categories for posting; creation of posts for the newly created administrative divisions and circles; posting of an APCS (EG) officer as undersecretary in the civil secretariat; posting of an APCS officer in the personnel department, etc. It may not be possible for the government to fulfill all the demands at one go but it should invite members of the APCSOA, who represent the state civil servants, and take steps to diffuse the stalemate. Some of the demands placed by the APCSOA are genuine and the government should give sympathetic hearing to them. At the end of the day, the APCS officers are the backbone of the state, and without their active participation, the governance will be hit hard.
It is time both the government and the APCS officers sat together and worked out a solution. The longer this stalemate continues, the more it will cause trouble to the citizens.