Arunachal Pradesh: Govt Suspends Internet In Itanagar, Bandh Hampers Daily Life

The government order said the step was taken at the request of the director general of police to "prevent further occurrence of serious law and order problems during the bandh."

Scores of protestors and police personnel were injured in clashes.

Source : ANI

Itanagar: Life in Arunachal Pradesh capital town was paralysed on Friday in the 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(PAJSC)-APPSC related to alleged leak of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) question paper.

Faced with large scale demonstrations by aggrieved aspirants and their family members, which triggered clashes with the police, the government temporarily suspended internet services in the Itanagar capital region from 6 pm of Friday to 5 pm of Sunday in the "interest of public safety".

The government order said the step was taken at the request of the director general of police to "prevent further occurance of serious law and order problems during the bandh which has taken a serious turn after destruction of police barricades, lathi charge and firing of tear gas shells".

The bandh began at 5 am and thousands of protestors 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 also 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 subsequent clashes, which compelled the police to resort to lathi charge and to lob tear gas shells, officials said.

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

The situation prompted Chief Minister Pema Khandu to call off the oath taking and appealed to the PAJSC-APPSC to withdraw its agitation. He invited it to the civil secretariat on Saturday at 11 am for a discussion of its demands and assured that the government would bear the cost of medical treatment of those injured in the day's clashes.

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 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 it was for the people. “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,” Khandu said.

He 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.

"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.

The Committee is demanding that all exams conducted by APPSC of which question papers were allegedly leaked be declared null and void, immediate arrest of the former Commission 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 officers posted under APPSC be recalled and all candidates be given compensation of Rs five lakh each. “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 PAJSC-APPSC should not be blamed for anything that happened, he added.

The aggrieved aspirants had earlier written to Governor B D Mishra objecting to 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.

Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.