[ Bengia Ajum ]
TEZU, 15 Apr: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced that the people of Assamese origin who are residing in Arunachal Pradesh will now be issued permanent residence certificates(PRC) by the government of Assam.
Addressing an election rally here in Lohit district on Sunday, he said that the Assam government has taken this decision in the interest of the people of Assamese origin.
“Our cabinet has taken this decision. Soon the Assamese-origin people residing in Arunachal will be able to apply for government jobs in Assam. Their children can be admitted to engineering and medical colleges in Assam, using Assam PRCs,” said Sarma.
He said that he understands that issuing of PRCs to non-APSTs is a sensitive issue in Arunachal. “This was a big problem and in the past, I had words with Chief Minister Pema Khandu in this regard. We are finding a solution to this long-pending problem. We respect the law and sentiment of the people of Arunachal,” Sarma said.
He further said that the Assam government will treat the people of Assamese origin residing in Arunachal equally with those residing in Assam. “They will be treated as respectable citizens of Assam. However,we also know that the government of Arunachal is doing every possible thing for the people of Assamese origin living in the state,” he said.
Issuing of PRCs to non-APSTs living in districts like Namsai, Lohit, and Changlang is a highly sensitive one in the state. In 2019, the state witnessed large-scale violence in the Itanagar Capital Region (ICR) when the protest against the proposal to issue PRCs to six non-tribal communities turned violent.
The protestors had gone on a rampage in the ICR after a bandh was enforced by several organisations in protest against the joint high power committee’s recommendation on granting PRCs to non-APSTs residing in some districts of the state. The violence led to the death of three people and caused huge loss of public and private properties.
Shaken by the scale of the protest and violence, the state government issued a gazette notification, informing that no further action would be taken in the matter of granting of PRCs to the non-APST residents of Namsai and Changlang districts.
Based on the decision taken during the cabinet meeting held on 25 February, 2019, the notification read: “In the public interest, the governor of Arunachal Pradesh is pleased to order that no further action shall be taken in respect of the said issue and the same is closed.”
