Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR : The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on Monday set August 15 as the deadline for the state government to place the contentious 80:20 job reservation issue before the State Cabinet, warning of a 12-hour statewide bandh on August 17 if the demand is not met.
The announcement was made following a meeting of the High-Powered Committee (HPC) held at the Civil Secretariat here, which was attended by AAPSU as a special invitee.
Speaking to reporters, AAPSU president Meje Taku said the union had reiterated its demand for scrapping the existing 80:20 reservation ratio in state government recruitment and made its position clear before the committee.
“We have made our stand clear to the government. The issue must be taken up by the Cabinet by August 15, failing which AAPSU will enforce a 12-hour statewide bandh on August 17 as the first phase of our democratic agitation,” Taku said.
The union has also demanded that Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) and Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe (APST) certificates be made mandatory for candidates appearing in competitive recruitment examinations in the state, along with a mandatory local language criterion.
Taku further said AAPSU had already written to the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) and Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB), urging them not to conduct any fresh recruitment examinations until the reservation issue is resolved.
He warned that the union would shut down the offices of the two recruiting bodies if they proceeded with examinations before the issue was settled.
The state government had constituted the HPC in July following demands raised by AAPSU in its memorandum submitted on June 2. The committee, headed by Industries, Skill Development and IPR Minister Nyato Dukam, comprises senior officials from the Home, Law, Personnel, Social Justice, Empowerment and Tribal Affairs, and Administrative Reforms and Training departments.
The panel has been tasked with examining the constitutional and legal aspects of the proposed changes, studying reservation policies followed in neighbouring Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur, and reviewing the recommendations of an earlier high-level committee. It has been given two months to submit its report.
