ITANAGAR, 8 Sep: The Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum (AITF) has finalised 12 government schools to be adopted with immediate effect in the state.
The decision was taken during a meeting it held with community-based organisations (CBO) of the state here on Saturday.
The AITF informed in a release on Sunday that “after detailed deliberations on the way forward for the first phase of AITF school adoption programme, 12 government schools submitted by the apex 12 federating CBOs within the timeline have been finalised to be adopted with immediate effect in the state.”
The schools to be adopted are the Govt Secondary School (GSS) Sippi by the Tagin Cultural Society; Govt Upper Primary School (GUPS) Gelling by the Tuting Memba Welfare Society; GSS Shergaon by the All Sartukpen Blu; Govt Higher Secondary School (GHSS) Thrizino by the Aka Shotuko-Kunu; Govt Middle School (GMS) Bichom by the All Bugun Khowa Society; Govt Primary School Mankota by the Khamba Welfare Society Tuting; GUPS Bichom by the Sajolang Elite Society; GHSS Miao by the Tangsa Literary & Cultural Development Society; GHSS Maro by the Galo Welfare Society; Govt ME School Supliang by the Mishmi Welfare Society; GHSS Kalaktang by the Monpa Mimang Tsogpa; and Bari-Basip Residential School in Katang by the All Tutsa Welfare Society.
It was decided during the meeting that the groundwork will be initiated forthwith by the apex AITF federating CBOs by constituting alumni associations of the adopted schools and school supervision and monitoring committees immediately. The presidential notification to this effect will be issued by the AITF within 10 days, the release said.
On the sidelines of the deliberations on the school adoption programme, the CBOs expressed serious concern over the reported large-scale influx of illegal immigrants into the interstate border districts of Arunachal Pradesh, including the Itanagar Capital Region.
The members deliberated on “the serious ramifications in future – impact of such illegal immigrations on security threat, demographic imbalance on the indigenous tribal population, socioeconomic, socio-cultural & socio-political impacts, thereby impending law and order situations in the long run,” the AITF said in its release.
“In the recent illegal sex rackets busted in various places of the state, the involvement of such illegal immigrants has been proved beyond doubt. According to the recent electronic and print media reports, all the northeastern states are facing the same problem of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh due to their national turmoil, forcing the Bangladeshi nationals to take refuge in the states of our country.
“And ultimately, Arunachal Pradesh is the soft target for refuge of illegal immigrants through neighbouring states,” the members observed.
The AITF and all the CBOs of the state viewed it (illegal immigration) as a serious threat to the existence of Arunachal in the future, and decided to urge the state government to “take up the issue on a war footing and gear up vigilance at all the entry gates from Assam and other states.”
They also called for intensive checking of inner line permits (ILP) in the entire state by deploying sufficient forces in every nook and corner of the state to drive out illegal immigrants on a mission mode for the safety and security of the state.
“Further, the ILP issuing authorities should employ foolproof mechanism while issuing the passes,” the AITF and the CBOs said.
The AITF further urged civil society bodies and others to cooperate with and lend a helping hand to the government machinery in the drive against illegal immigrants.
