Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 12 Sep: A conglomeration of organisations, including the All Arunachal Pradesh Youth Organisation, the Arunachal Nari Shakti, the Indigenous Movement against Corruption and for Reformation (IMACR), the Arunachal Indigenous Peoples Forum, the Save Arunachal Youth Association, and others marched from Akashdeep complex to the tennis court here on Tuesday to press their demand for recruiting only the indigenous people of the state as gramin dak sevaks (GDS) in the postal department.
It is learnt that there are 2,596 posts of GDS and 866 post office branches which are to be made functional.
Speaking to reporters at the tennis court, IMACR chairman Raj Pao said that “today’s rally was to convey a message to the ministry of communication.”
“On 4 September, we had submitted a representation to the chief minister to reconsider the appointment of non-APST persons as GDS’, and to make inclusion of local languages/dialects compulsory,” Pao said.
He said that “the ministry of communication doesn’t know the geographical location of the state,” and demanded that the appointment process be halted “as dialogue is still going on between the organisations and the department concerned.”
Stating that “we will start another approach” if the dialogue fails, he added that “our citizens should also understand the fact that recruitment of the GDS’ in various parts of the districts will also impact the economy of the state.”
Nari Shakti president Teli Yamang urged unemployed youths to “do away with all drugs and concentrate on preparing for exams.”
“We are here to fight for the unemployed youths of the state, so the youths should also support us by studying hard and leaving all kinds of addiction,” she said.
The conglomeration had submitted a memorandum to the superintendent of the Itanagar post office headquarters on 4 September, and the superintendent convened a roundtable meeting with them on 11 September, along with Shillong (Meghalaya) assistant director of postal services.
“It is to be noted that the meeting didn’t meet the demands placed by the organisations, for which the protest had to be taken out,” Pao said.
Their demands are “immediate inclusion of local languages/dialects for the GDS posts; appointing all the APST candidates to the 2,596 GDS posts; immediate removal of the appointment of non-APST candidates; and immediate cancellation of earlier appointment of non-APST for the post of GDS.”