Itanagar: In August this year, 63-year-old Kaling Jerang, a vice president of the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) – a regional party in Arunachal Pradesh which was once an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – was part of a four-member fact-finding committee which travelled to Taksing in the Upper Subansiri district of the state to study the ground reality of alleged encroachment of Indian territory by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Jerang, a former bureaucrat, said that he convinced the PPA leadership to send the fact-finding committee after seeing what he termed as “huge contradictions” between the state government’s policy on the proposed dam over the Siang river and its reaction to reports of alleged Chinese incursions in the border area near Taksing.

“Citing national security, the government has been in extraordinary hurry to prepare the pre-feasibility report (PFR) and build the proposed dam over the Siang river despite stiff opposition from locals. It has said that the construction of the dam is necessary to counter the influence of China which is also building a dam. But at the same time we hear about reports of Chinese intrusions in Taksing. The indigenous Nah community also warned of Chinese incursions but the government was in constant denial. There were huge contradictions in its two approaches. That’s why we went to Taksing to ascertain the facts,” Jerang told The Wire over phone from his residence in Siang district.

The PPA fact-finding committee had Kahfa Bengia, former minister-cum-chief-adviser of PPA as the chairman of the committee, along with vice-president Jerang, and secretaries Jorang Kiokam and Narah Jimmy as members.

The fact-finding committee of the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) during its visit to the Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh earlier this year. Photo: PPA vice president Kaling Jerang

“During our visit to Taksing, the Nah community members told us that as it gets colder, their yaks climb higher altitudes for grazing. They have to go to these places to feed salt to the yaks. But now, they are no longer allowed in those areas where they would go two-three years back to feed the yaks as the armies of both India and China stop them from going to these spots,” said Jerang.

‘State and Union government hiding the fact of Chinese incursions’

“We stayed in Taksing for seven days and visited places such as Maja, which is a sensitive border post. From the feedback that we........

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