The All Arunachal Pradesh Abo Tani Students’ Union has lodged an FIR against Chief Minister Pema Khandu over the Border Roads Organization (BRO) showing Kimin as part of Assam.
The students’ body alleged in the FIR that chief minister Khandu connived with the BRO authority “to cede the Kimin-Potin portion of Arunachal Pradesh to Assam”.
The BRO on Saturday tendered an apology to the people of Arunachal over renaming Kimin as ‘Bilgarh’ in Assam and covering Arunachal’s name with white paste during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s recent visit to Kimin to inaugurate roads on June 17.
The BRO came under fire after it “renaming” Kimin, a small town of Arunachal Pradesh, 75 km from Itanagar, as Bilgarh and showing it as a part of Assam.
The group also claimed to possess evidence to proceed against the Chief Minister in any competent court.
The Save Arunachal Youth Association, on the other hand, has sought suspension of Papum Pare Deputy Commissioner Pige Ligu for his alleged involvement in the “renaming” episode.
The BRO said that what it had done was an ‘inadvertent and unintended mistake.”
“With folded hands I seek apology from the people of Arunachal Pradesh. Whatever mistake we made was purely unintended and inadvertent. We have no intention to hurt the sentiment of the state,” Arunachal Times quoted Additional Director General of Border Roads (ADGBR-East) PK Singh as saying.
“The unfortunate incident was nothing more than an inadvertent mistake which happened under the pressure of organizing the event while racing against time. The BRO in no way had even an iota of malafide intention of hurting the sentiments of the people of Arunachal Pradesh. It should be taken as an unconditional apology, due to the emotive connect that the BRO has with the people of the state,” he added.