ITANAGAR, 29 Oct: Sunday marked the second day of the sit-in protest being staged by the members of the Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee (PAJSC) at the tennis court here.
Several people, including the aspirants and their parents and guardians, have expressed support to the PAJSC, and several others, including members of Nari Shakti, have joined the protest.
This is the second sit-in protest staged by the PAJSC. The first one was held from 26-28 September this year.
Speaking to this daily, PAJSC vice chairman Tadak Nalo reiterated the committee’s demands, saying that “this issue is not only for the aspirants but also for all the people of all walks of life in the society.”
“Our demand is our right and we are expecting that the state government will consider the seriousness of the issue and act accordingly,” he said.
Nalo said that the chief minister had on 18 February given assurance to meet all the 13 demands. “However, now it has been more than eight months and no amicable response has come from the government,” he said.
Stating that the CM has failed to meet his own commitment, Nalo urged the government to “invite all the stakeholders of the issue to discuss and come up with the best solution.”
“The PAJSC is optimistic that the state government will come up with a logical solution to the issue, so that we are not forced to take further course of action,” he said, and added that “it would be catastrophic if the issue is not addressed now.”
A 2022 TGT-PGT aspirant for a job in the Hindi department said, “We are ready for the examination but the government should come up with a fair strategy with regard to the exams, so that no loopholes can be found.”
Another aspirant (2016 batch) for a job in the agriculture department, on condition of anonymity, said that “the government should provide equal opportunity to all, without any leakage of papers. We were so devastated when we came to know that the topper of the 2021 ADO exam was absorbed through unfair means.
“We are like living dead bodies that are deprived of equal opportunity despite all our hard work preparing for the exam. We are being insulted by our parents and being compared with the toppers, whereas the toppers themselves are involved in unfair means,” she said.
She claimed that “someone I knew ended their life due to the frustration over the scam. There is also an instance where our marks were not counted in a fair manner.”
“The marks of those who did not attend were included, while those who attempted were not counted,” she added.
An aspirant, Demlin Nalo, who has also joined the sit-in protest, said that “the government should reform all the past commissions.”
The four-day protest will end on 31 October.
