ITANAGAR, 26 Oct: The Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee (PAJSC) on Thursday announced that its next dharna will be held at the tennis court here from 28 to 31 October.
This was informed by PAJSC vice chairman Tadak Nalo while addressing reporters at the Arunachal Press Club here.
“In order to get permission to sit in a dharna, we had to move from pillar to post, and it took us 25 days for the approval,” Nalo said, adding that “we have been moving from the district administration office to the office of the chief secretary. Moreover, we have been sent to office after office to get the approval. By this, we understand how desperate the government is to halt the issue,” he said, adding that “disapproving of granting the dharna itself is a nexus.”
The PAJSC vice chairman said that “the dharna will encompass all their 13 demands, including a few other demands,” saying that “the added demands are not something new.”
Nalo further said that “the issue has stretched over one-and-a-half year but it is yet to be taken to any logical conclusion.”
“We have also met the chief secretary and laid all our points specifically,” Nalo said, adding that the CS told the committee’s representatives that the chief minister would be apprised of the matter.
“Our earlier sit-in protest was initially for seven days. However, we have got the permission for only three days. We demanded an indefinite strike but the district administration rejected our plea.
“We are appealing to the district administration and to the government to not keep us in such hurdles the next time we seek permission for staging a dharna,” he said.
Earlier, on 3 October, the PAJSC had written a letter to the chief minister to address its 13 demands, and to erect the ‘statue of honesty’. “However, no response has come till now,” he said.
Nalo said, “The statue of honesty should be immediately erected in the name of late Gyamar Padang, the whistleblower of the AE paper leak case,” and demanded that the suspension of Techi Puru be withdrawn and Puru be reinstated to his post.”
“Chief Minister Pema Khandu had on 8 February this year praised Puru for voicing out after himself being a government servant,” the committee said.
The PAJSC is also demanding “immediate implementation of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Examination Measures for Unfair Means Bill-2023. “We have given our inputs through official representation on 1 June this year to the administrative reforms department, but it has not been approved yet,” Nalo said, and appealed that it be approved soon.
“We are also demanding a Gyamar Padang state bravery award to be initiated by the state government, and the government should appropriately recognise late Gyamar Padang,” the committee said.
“It was also assured by the government to compensate people who were injured in the bandh call; however, no one is being compensated till now and it has been seven to eight months as of now,” Nalo informed.
He said that about 15 FIRs have still not been withdrawn by the police stations of the capital region. “The Whistleblower Act and its standard operating procedures should be immediately approved in the legislative assembly, including the approval of the Protection of Whistleblower and Rewards of the Whistleblower Act,” he said.
The PAJSC further said that “seeking null and void is our fundamental right, but if the state government has an appropriate solution, it is welcome. We are seeking null and void where the paper leakage in the exam is involved.”
