Large-scale illegal appointments made in the public health engineering & water supply (PHE&WS) department is a matter of deep concern. The All Arunachal Pradesh Public Health Engineering & Water Supply Department Workers Union has alleged that 17 illegal appointments to the post of regularised work-charged (WC) employees were made recently in the PHE&WS department of Changlang and Longding districts. It has lodged a complaint with the chief secretary and the Special Investigation Cell (SIC), seeking investigation into the appointments. Apparently, these appointments were made prior to the elections, in an attempt to influence the elections. This looks like a classic case of a vote-for-job scam.
The state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Pema Khandu has taken a strong stand against the culture of illegal appointments. But shockingly, still such appointments are making a mockery of the CM’s attempt to cleanse the system. First it was in the education department that such illegal appointments were made, and now it is being done by the PHE&WS department. The criminals are following the same model of illegally appointing people to the vacancies created in Tirap, Changlang, and Longding districts and then getting them transferred to other districts. This is a slap on the face of the people of these three districts. The government should not allow such injustice to be done to the people of these three backward districts. The SIC should immediately register a case and start an investigation. The officers involved in this vote-for-job scam should not be spared. Further, their appointments should be cancelled.