GUWAHATI: The modalities of the second phase of Operation Clean Drive in Arunachal Pradesh spearheaded by the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) will be “different”, with the government machinery likely to take over the task of apprehending ILP (inner line permit) violators in the state.
The first phase of the drive in August this year had seen over 2,200 ILP violators taken to task by members of the union with the help of police. The move came in the wake of the apprehension regarding illegal influx after neighbouring Assam published the complete draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) on July 30 with over 40lakh people not figuring in the draft.
“The date for the second phase of Operation Clean Drive is yet to be fixed. But this time the state government is taking the issue very seriously and subsequently the modalities of the operation will be different. Members of our union will be on the ground and play the role of informers as the police take over and pick up ILP violators,” AAPSU general secretary, Tobom Dai told The Shillong Times over from phone from Itanagar on Sunday.
The topic of the students union taking law in their hands was raised in the meeting with Union home minister, Rajnath Singh.
“The home ministry had also issued a directive against such an action by the students union given that the district and police administration were in place for the same. So this time we will carry out a recce and inform the state government regarding the presence of illegal settlers in the state. This way the law is also not breached,” Dai said.
As it is, the students union had during the consultative meeting with representatives of 22 district students’ unions and members of North East Students Organisation in the last week of August decided to intensify the second phase besides submitting a detailed report on strengthening the ILP system to the state government.
University name change
Meanwhile, members of the students’ union submitted a memorandum to Union minister of state for home, Kiren Rijiju in New Delhi on Thursday seeking a change in name of the Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) to its former name, Arunachal University.
“We had urged the minister to expedite the process of renaming the institute back to its earlier name, which has been a long pending demand,” Dai said.
The union had also urged the state government to pass a resolution in the Cabinet and the state Assembly regarding changing the RGU’s name and send it to the Centre before the winter session of the Parliament.
“The home minister also said it would be good for him to take up the matter if the state government acts on our demand,” Dai added.
The demand for converting the RGU into a fully residential campus was also made by the union during the meeting.
