Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 14 Dec: Following the report of the proposed deployment of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) in Riew village in Siang district to quell anti-dam resistance, the village’s Head Gaon Bura (HGB) Tabeng Tamuk has lodged an FIR against Deputy Commissioner PN Thungon, accusing him of “misleading the villagers.”
As reported earlier, the government has decided to deploy hundreds of both Central Armed Police Force as well as state armed police to deter people from protesting against the study for pre-feasibility report of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation’s 11,000 mw Siang upper multipurpose project (SUMP).
In a letter written to the deputy commissioners of the three Siang districts – Upper, East Siang and Siang -the home secretary had requested for providing requisite accommodation and logistic facilities for force deployment, which includes women police personnel, tentatively by 15 December.
In the FIR, a copy of which has surfaced on social media, the HGB stated that the DC misled him in the matter of accommodating CAPF personnel at the defunct government primary school in Riew.
“I have been misled by DC Thungon, as I was under the impression that he was trying to revive the school. In reality, no prior consent or consultation was sought from me regarding accommodation of the CAPF in Riew village,” claimed the HGB in the FIR.
“In the guise of renovation of school, the DC lied that the inspection was only for the renovation of the school,” he added.
The HGB further claimed that on 6 December, DSP Tenzin Sange came to Riew village in the afternoon and informed him that his visit was for the inspection of the dere (community hall) and the government primary school.
“Later the DSP called up DC Thungon and made me speak to him over the phone. The DC enquired about the status of the school and whether it’s functional, to which I told him that the school is not functional and there are no teachers,” he added.
He claimed also that the DC instructed him to renovate the school, to which he said he replied that the villagers had conducted a donation drive to renovate the school years back, and since there is zero enrollment of students at present, the school doesn’t need renovation.
“To my surprise I came across a letter written by the DC,dated 06/12/24, wherein he instructed the circle officer to accommodate the CAPF at the government primary school, Riew village. The villagers have been asking me how I agreed to this accommodation of the CAPF,” Tamuk stated.
He urged the police authority to register a case against the DC on the grounds of making an incorrect document, breach of trust, misrepresentation of facts, and fraud.
The villagers, led by the head gaon burah, have since said that they will not provide accommodation to the forces and they are against deployment of force.
Several groups and individuals, including the Northeast Human Rights and the Arunachal Democratic Party, have opposed the decision to deploy security in the area without the consent of the people.
Ground reports say that armed personnel were yet to reach the designated places while the tension simmers in the ground against the forceful deployment.
