Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Friday came down heavily on the BJP-led state government, particularly Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein for their recent announcements made on the permanent resident certificate (PRC) issue.
“It is very surprising and shameful on the part of the chief minister and his deputy that they are announcing perks like granting of PRCs to six Non-Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe (APST) communities living in the Namsai and Changlang districts and to the Gorkhas living in Vijaynagar without doing any homework, ” APCC vice president Minkir Lollen said in a statement.
Khandu, while addressing a public meeting at Vijaynagar in Changlang on Friday, had announced that his government was looking upon the odds on granting PRCs to the non-APST communities living in Namsai and Changlang districts.
He, however, said the interests of the indigenous tribal population would be taken into consideration and cut-off dates would be set to qualify for PRC.
Mein had said in Assam recently that granting PRCs to the Non-APSTs would be a New Year gift for them.
“Where at one hand the chief minister and deputy chief minister are making such blind announcements, the government spokesperson on the other hand has released a statement that the Environment and Forest minister, Nabam Rebia-led Joint High Power Committee (JHPC) which has been constituted to look into the matter, is yet to submit its report. The announcements made by two of the big leaders of the state BJP is politically motivated and made only to gain political mileage in the upcoming general election,” Lollen said.
Government Spokesperson Bamang Felix had on Thursday clarified that the state government was in no hurry to grant PRC to the Non-APSTs and the JHPC was still in the process of conducting consultative meetings with the stakeholders in various locations of the state.
Felix had also stated that the government would examine the issue of PRCs only after receiving a report from the JHPC which will then be further taken to the cabinet for appropriate decision.