The Arunachal Pradesh government has forwarded 1798 citizenship applications by Chakma and Hajong refugees to the foreigners division of the MHA along with the recommendation that the applicants are not eligible for grant of citizenship, its Home Minister Kumar Waii informed the assembly today. Responding to a supplementary question from BJP member Pani Taram during question hour asking what circumstances compelled the state government to forward the applications, Waii said that the recommendations were made before the state assembly adopted a resolution last year not to grant citizenship to Chakmas and Hajongs in the state. The Supreme Court in an order of September 17, 2015 directed the Centre as well as the state government to finalise the conferment of citizenship rights on eligible Chakmas and Hajongs. "Accordingly the citizenship applications were processed and the deputy commissioners of the affected districts carried the requisite exercise of verification and forwarded reports to the state government stating that none of the applicants satisfies all the conditions laid down under Section 5(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act of 1955, he said. The state government had forwarded all the applications to the MHA, he added. When senior BJP member C T Mein pointed out that more than 2000 Chakmas had illegally settled at Diyun Reserve forest and wanted to know the steps taken by the government to evict them and identify the illegal refugees in the state, Waii said that the government had already issued directives to all the respective deputy commissioners and action would be initiated after getting the reports from them.
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