Dawn-to-dusk bandh over APPSC paper leak, CM calls meeting

Itanagar, Feb 17 (PTI) Life in Arunachal Pradesh capital town came to a grinding halt on Friday in a dawn-to-dusk 'public' bandh called to press for the fulfillment of the 13-point charter of demands of the Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee-APPSC related to alleged leak of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) question paper.

The bandh began at 5 am and thousands of people, including aggrieved aspirants and their parents, came out to the streets of the capital town in the early morning hour demanding cancellation of the scheduled swearing-in of the new APPSC chairman on Friday evening.

They damaged posters of President Droupadi Murmu, who is scheduled to arrive in the northeastern state on February 20 on a two-day visit.

Scores of protestors and police personnel were injured in clashes, which compelled the police to resort to lathi charge and to lob tear gas shells, officials said.

All top police officers are on the job to maintain peace and the situation though tense, is said to be under control.

In Itanagar business establishments, markets, banks, educational institutions, government and private offices are closed and vehicles kept off the road due to the bandh.

The situation prompted Chief Minister Pema Khandu to invite the Pan Arunachal Joint Steering Committee-APPSC to the civil secretariat on Saturday at 11 am for a discussion of their demands. He also appealed to it to call off the agitation and said that the government would bear the cost of medical treatment of the injured.

“The protestors should call off their agitations and not create an ugly law and order situation as it will be detrimental to the state. The bandh will not solve any issue, only discussions can,” he told a press conference at his residence here.

The alleged scam, he said, was equally shocking to the government as to the general public.

“Our intention was only to overhaul the Commission and give reprieve to innocent aspirants who unfortunately became victims of the paper leakage scam. It was with that in mind we advertised for filling up the posts of the APPSC chairman and its members and followed it up with the laid down norms to make it functional as soon as possible.

"We believed that formation of the new APPSC by swearing in the new chairman and members will be for public good ... However, it has come to our notice that several aspirants, their parents and the general public are not in agreement with the steps we took and they took to the streets in protest. Respecting their sentiments, the government has decided to call off the scheduled oath taking ceremony. We will decide further action in this regard after detailed consultations with all stakeholders,” he added.

Khandu claimed that the Arunachal Pradesh government dealt with the situation with an iron hand from the beginning. The special investigation cell (SIC) of the state vigilance department was given a free hand to investigate the case and apprehend all those who had a hand in it irrespective of power or position.

“The SIC was doing a commendable job as was proved by the many arrests that it made. However, we asked CBI to take over the probe as demanded by the general public,” he said.

The government cannot interfere in the functioning of the Commission as it is an autonomous body and the government officers posted in it do not come under the direct control of the state secretariat. “Complete overhauling of the APPSC and reframing its standard operating procedures (SOP) is the only way forward to regain the people's faith in it. Therefore all its members resigned on moral grounds,” the chief minister said.

A cabinet meeting was held to correct the anomalies and make the officers accountable. It decided to merge all government staff of the Commission with those of the secretariat so that the government could take departmental action against any erring officer as they would no longer be under the sole jurisdiction of an autonomous body, he said.

Appealing to the agitating youths and general public to understand the situation and maintain peace, Khandu said “We are more than concerned about the alleged question paper leakage and are determined to revive and rejuvenate the APPSC. We have no other intention but to provide free, fair and equal opportunities to our youths through the Commission”.

The Committee is demanding that all exams conducted by APPSC of which question papers were leaked be declared null and void, the immediate arrest of the former Commission's chairman, secretary, members and other officers, a court-monitored and Enforcement Directorate probe into the fiasco and immediate dismissal of state government officers involved in it.

It also demanded that the recruitment examination be henceforth conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, the report of the three-member committee on AE (Civil) paper leak be made public, the three state government officials posted under APPSC be recalled and all aggrieved candidates be given compensation of Rs five lakh each.

The aggrieved aspirants had earlier written to Governor B D Mishra strongly objecting the appointment of the new APPSC chairman and members and requesting him to not go ahead with their oath-taking. Mishra has been made the lieutenant governor of Ladakh and Lt Gen Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik was sworn-in as Arunachal Pradesh governor on Thursday.

“The issue affects each and every Arunachali. We are handing it over to the people now, they people will decide what is to be done,” PAJSC-APPSC member Tadak Nalo said.

The committee should not be blamed for anything that happened, he added. PTI UPL KK KK