Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu said the State Government will establish an ‘Aka dialect and preservation centre’ in order to preserve the Aka language and culture.
“The government is also equally responsible for preservation of the state’s rich culture and heritage,” the chief minister said in his address at the celebration of Sarok festival of the Aka community at Bana in East Kameng district.
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Stating that ‘East Kameng will witness tremendous development in the coming days’ Khandu urged the government officers in the district to work with dedication.
Earlier, the chief minister, who was accompanied by state education minister Taba Tedir, sports minister Mama Natung and MLAs Goruk Pordung, Mama Natung, Hayeng Mangfi and Tapuk Taku, laid the foundation for an ITI at Bana, an Eklavya residential school in Lumdung, an integrated water conservation plant in Naraba, an ecotourism park in Yarping, and the Syama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission of the Richukrong cluster.
Khandu urged the people of the district, particularly the Aka community, to preserve their rich culture, heritage and language.
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He said the government is ‘specifically committed to support preservation of tribal dialects in Arunachal Pradesh’ through the indigenous affairs department.
Khandu also promised to have a festival ground developed here, besides assuring to develop a road network to connect all the villages in the block.
The chief minister informed that the State Government is ‘seriously pursuing for enabling market linkages for farmers’ in order to promote the horticulture sector in East Kameng.
On the shortage of administrative officers, Khandu said, “The State Government has identified new 48 vacant posts for circle officers (CO), for which the APPSC has been entrusted to conduct fresh recruitment, which hopefully will be completed by seven-eight months.”
He said the examination will be conducted ‘as per UPSC pattern’.
Nineteen posts of COs will be filled through lateral entry, he added.
He informed that as of now the state has 138 posts vacant for circle officers.
Tedir, who also holds the indigenous affairs portfolio, urged the Aka community to help the government in protecting their endangered language from becoming extinct.
The minister was responding to a memorandum submitted by Aka Welfare Society of East Kameng (AWSEK) chairman Ashung Yame.
Tedir assured to provide every possible assistance from the education department to preserve the Aka language, and urged the Akas to ‘come up with a mechanism to teach Aka as third language in the schools in Aka inhabited areas’.
The Aka (Koro) language is listed by the UNESCO as one of the endangered languages of Arunachal Pradesh.