Arunachal Pradesh government today termed the 12-hour bandh called by All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU), which witnessed violent activities including burning down of vehicles and damage of public properties, as "unfortunate".
During yesterday's bandh, the police had arrested AAPSU president Kamta Lapung for disturbing peace along with his supporters at Itanagar. He was later produced before a local court which remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.
"Being a student's organisation, AAPSU's bandh call during the peak admission season of schools, colleges and universities, was unwarranted. The bandh affected a lot of students apart from the common people and business establishments," government spokesman Bamang Felix pointed out during a press conference here.
"As per a Supreme Court order, any kind of bandh is illegal in nature. AAPSU should have opted for other democratic ways to register their grievances," he said.
Referring to the demands of the students' union for putting a ban on appointment of chairmen, OSDs, advisors and political secretaries, Felix said it was the prerogative of the state government to continue with its routine business.
"The government believes in taking services of intellectuals or people having technical knowhow for betterment of the state and its people," he said.
Home minister Tanga Byaling in a statement last night asked the AAPSU to voice its concern only on academic matters instead of making hue and cry on matters related to the state government's functioning.
AAPSU has no authority to demand a White Paper from the government on financial status of the state, Byaling said in a statement.
"Democracy provides everybody to place genuine grievances in the form of dharna and bandh call... But the demands of AAPSU are not valid at this juncture," he added.
Meanwhile, the district administration in a meeting today decided to constitute a committee to take stock of the damages caused during the AAPSU sponsored bandh yesterday and fix responsibility for the damage to compensate the loss of public and private properties, a press release by the administration said.
