Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 28 Aug: Anger and emotion filled the air as hundreds joined a candlelight march organised by the Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee (PAJSC) in honour of whistleblower late Gyamar Padang, who exposed the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) paper leak scam.
It was on 28 August, 2022 that Padang had lodged an FIR regarding the APPSC paper leak scam at the Itanagar police station.
Remembering Padang’s sacrifice to end the endemic corruption in the state’s premier recruiting agency, PAJSC chairman Techi Puru thanked the people of Arunachal “for standing by the aspirants and Padang’s family members in the journey of their fight against the paper leakage issue.”
Puru said that the government’s tall claim of meeting the committee’s 13-point charter of demands “is half-handed and not a sincere initiative to bring the issue to a logical conclusion.”
“No proper action has been taken against the responsible people (culprits). Only properties have been seized. Instead, they were after me and Nalo for spearheading the movement,” Puru said.
He added: “Till a logical conclusion is arrived at on the issue, the PAJSC will not exit from the issue.”
Puru accused the state government of being insincere towards handling the scam, stating that “the paper leak scam is heading in the same direction which the APPSC 2014 question paper scam did.”
“They want to conduct exams hastily because they have unfinished business of selling question papers. Until severe punishment is awarded to the culprits, such corruption will continue, as the government is giving them a morale boost by not taking any action,” he said.
The PAJSC chairman added that “the illegal teacher appointment scam in the education department is an outcome of the government’s soft stand against corruption,” and demanded
that the government table the Prevention of Unfair Act and the Whistleblower Act in the coming assembly session.
PAJSC vice chairman Tadak Nalo in his speech appealed to the people of the state to continue to support them in their fight against the scam, and spoke about how Padang made the supreme sacrifice for the future generation of the state.
“Today, Gyamar Padang is not with us. While leaving from the world, he showed us a path to root out the corrupt system. We will continue to fight until this issue is resolved,” vowed Nalo.
He also criticised the state government for what he claimed was an attempt to suppress their voice by slapping the APUAPA on them.
“The government’s random use of the APUAPA reflected that it did not want to resolve this issue,” he said.
Gyamar Siapiang Phassang, the widow of late Gyamar Padang, shared the ordeal of late Padang while fighting against corruption. She said that her late husband dedicated his life to bring reformation in the commission after exposing the scam.
Phassang also urged the people to continue to support the PAJSC “until all demands are met.”
Gyamar Padang, who passed away on 3 May, was an aspirant for the assistant engineer (AE, civil) examination. The case was initially investigated by the Itanagar police and later transferred to the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) of the Arunachal Pradesh Police.
On 26 October, 2022, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the investigation on the recommendation of the state government.
Following the public outcry that resulted after Padang lodged the FIR, investigations had been initiated by the state police. These investigations revealed that several candidates, in connivance with the commission’s employee Taket Jerang, gained unfair advantage in the APCS and various other exams, including the AE and the ADO exams.
Now terminated from their jobs, circle officer Opet Mibang and DFCSO Minoty Borang Saroh – both of whom were arrested in October last year by the SIC – initially could not clear the civil service exam, despite obtaining question papers in advance.
As of May this year, the SIC and the CBI, during the course of their investigations, arrested 41 government officials for their involvement in the scam. Of them, the services of 19 employees who were yet to be confirmed and who were under probation were terminated.
In total, 54 people have been arrested in connection with the paper leak case.
