arunachal congress
Photo: Northeast Now

The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Tuesday alleged that the BJP Government, led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu was fooling the people in the name of districts and Arunachal Rising Campaign.

APCC president, Takam Sanjoy, who was addressing a press conference at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan in Itanagar, was obviously referring to – Lepa Rada, Pakke-Kesang and Shi Yomi districts, which Khandu had recently inaugurated.

“The Congress welcomes the formation of districts; however, it at the same time also questions the authority on how could the districts possibly run without the creation of any posts and adequate manpower to run it,” Sanjoy said.

It would be interesting to see how the three new districts would function properly with only a Deputy Commissioner and a Superintendent of Police each.

What about the other posts that needs to be filled for its smooth functioning? This leaves us with apprehension that these districts are created only on paper, Sanjoy said, while demanding that the government needs to fill at least 50 per cent of the posts before the Assembly elections next year.

Sanjoy also claimed that the government has so far not created even a single post for Lepa Rada, Pakke-Kesang and Shi Yomi.

Commenting on Arunachal Rising Campaign, which in currently in its second leg and reached the Lohit district on Tuesday, the Congress president said that the campaign has been causing nothing more, but trouble to the public.

“The campaign, in which only Khandu, his deputy Chowna Mein, BJP state president Tapir Gao and a few legislators have embarked on, is causing countless problems to the people living in remote areas. Most the choppers which connect places like Anini, Mechuka, Vijaynagar etc are being used by the BJP for the campaign. The service meant of the public has of late turned into a BJP helicopter service,” said Sanjoy.

The Arunachal Rising Campaign was launched in the State on June 8 by Chief Minister Khandu with the objective to reach out to the people throughout the State targeting remote areas and make them aware of the government initiatives, policies and programmes.

Sanjoy also raised doubts whether the Arunachal Rising Campaign was actually an election campaign.

Sanjoy on the day also demanded the government to release the pending payments of various schemes that were sanctioned under the State Infrastructure Development Fund (SIDF) in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

He alleged that the government had sanctioned schemes and projects worth 1500 crore (approx) under SIDF whereas the total fund allotted by the Centre was only that of 450 crore. The government now has a pending liability of almost 79 per cent, as per the Congress chief.

Damien Lepcha is Northeast Now Correspondent in Arunachal Pradesh. He can be reached at: [email protected]