Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has accused the BJP-led state and central govts of failing to safeguard constitutional rights and territorial integrity and urged leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to raise four key state issues during the ongoing Parliament session, a APCC statement said on Saturday.APCC president Bosiram Siram submitted a memorandum to Congress high command during an AICC review meeting in New Delhi on Friday, slamming the ‘double engine govt’ for failing the state’s youth, indigenous communities and border residents.The APCC demanded an amendment to strengthen Article 371(H), seeking provisions on a par with Article 371(A) of Nagaland and Article 371(G) of Mizoram. It said existing safeguards leave indigenous land, customary laws and natural resources vulnerable to exploitation, and called for sixth schedule-type protections to secure tribal self-governance, land ownership and sustainable employment opportunities for educated youth.Reiterating its firm opposition to the proposed Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), the APCC warned that the mega dam risks becoming one of northeast’s largest ecological and displacement disaster. It said the project, located in earthquake-prone Seismic Zone-V, threatens to displace over two lakh people, submerge ancestral lands, and damage sacred sites like Kekar Monying.The party said national security concerns over China’s upstream activities should not be used as a pretext to bypass the free, prior, and informed consent of local tribes, and advocated instead for sustainable, run-of-the-river renewable energy projects. Citing reports from border residents and local representatives about Chinese PLA construction activities along the border, the APCC criticised the BJP’s selective nationalism. The party demanded a white paper and a comprehensive govt statement detailing the ground reality along the international border, along with accelerated infrastructure packages for frontier villages.The APCC also demanded the immediate restoration of the old pension scheme, condemning the market-linked new pension scheme for subjecting govt employees to financial uncertainty. The party asserted that a guaranteed pension is a rightful social security measure rather than a govt favour.Reaffirming its commitment to the state, the APCC declared that Arunachal Pradesh is not a resource bank to be exploited, vowing to raise additional governance and corruption issues in a phased manner over the coming months.
