ITANAGAR, 1 Apr: Pan-Arunachal Joint Steering Committee (PAJSC) chairman Techi Puru on Monday issued a clarification with regard to the recent declaration of PAJSC member Techi Rana as an MP candidate from the Arunachal West seat.
“The PAJSC movement is based on the paper leakage of AE PWD examination by whistleblower Gyamar Padang,” Puru said, adding that “we will be having a hearing on Tuesday, which will also include the 18 February, 2023 incident.”
“Our issue was never a political one and it was clear from the beginning that, once the issue gets resolved, the committee will be dissolved. We are not like any other organisation, the issues of which take decades to be resolved. I am a government employee, and I do not have any intention to pull this issue longer,” he said.
“It has been two years now, and I keep looking forward to the issue getting resolved,” he added.
Cases against PAJSC members have been lodged at five police stations in the Itanagar Capital Region, and 20 new cases are being added, he claimed.
On his being suspended from his job, Puru informed that “now the government has extended it to May.”
He also questioned the integrity of the current APPSC members and its chairman, and said, “The government had earlier stated that unless the commission was constituted, they could not simply terminate the job of the then APPSC deputy controller of exam Taket Jerang. And now, after constituting the commission, they are saying that the government, not the commission, can terminate Jerang’s service.”
“The issue should not be diverted. The government has till date not been able to terminate the job a single official involved in the APPSC fiasco, be it in 2017 or 2022,” Puru added.
Referring to Rana’s candidature for the MP election, he said that, “as far as the PAJSC is concerned, under my leadership as chairman, no individual can politicise the PAJSC.”
“I differ on the election declaration of whoever comes under the banner of the PAJSC. If anybody wants to raise the issue, they can do it, but without using the PAJSC as a tool,” said Puru.
“We are still firm on our 13-point charter of demands, including the erection of a ‘statue of honesty’. The issue cannot be diverted, and no political gimmickry should be created around it,” he added.
