Apang calls for removal of lacunae in Arunachal Statehood Act

Former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take appropriate action for removal of all existing lacunae in the Statehood Act claiming the issue has been agitating the minds of the people.
Apang, the longest serving chief minister of the state who joined BJP early last year ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, had submitted a letter to Modi on this matter during the latter's visit to the state last month.
He said all central leaders during their visit to the state had been approached but the Centre did not budge. Even the state Assembly passed resolution in this regard twice in 1994 and in 2013.

Apang, who was the first chief minister of the state, claimed he and other state leaders were not consulted on the Arunachal Pradesh Statehood Act of 1986. "Neither the draft of the bill was shown to us nor were we aware of its defects," he said.
"We pursued the Centre to grant statehood, along with Mizoram and Goa, for our sensitive border state, citing the example of how the Arunachalees served as the sentinels of the frontier state after the Indian Army was ordered to vacate NEFA following defeat in the 1962 Chinese aggression," Apang told PTI.
The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had assured us that the Constitution would be amended for rectification of the act but nothing has been done so far, he claimed.

"We had approached the then Prime Minister on learning about the defects. When the ownership of land and resources of the people of Nagaland was protected, why not Arunachal? The prime minister had categorically assured us that the bill has been moved to avoid delay... He said defects will be removed by introducing a constitutional amendment," he recalled.

Moreover, special powers granted to the Governor under Article 371H, unlike in other northeastern states, go against the patriotic citizens of the most strategically sensitive part of the country, he said.
The assembly had unanimously passed resolution directing the state government to move the Centre for constitutional amendment with provision for special protection for the state.

The assembly had also resolved to urge the Centre to expeditiously amend Article 371H of the Constitution to bring Arunachal Pradesh at par with the provisions of Article 371A(1) with a view to provide special constitutional protection to the people of the state in respect of religious and social practices, customary laws and rights of ownership and transfer of land and its resources.