Arunachal government to raise age limit for tribal candidates in APPSC exams to 40 years

ITANAGAR: Chief minister Pema Khandu said the state government has decided to increase the age limit of tribal candidates to 40 years for appearing in Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) examinations from the present 37. Khandu said this at a function held here on Tuesday evening.

Expressing shock and disgust over the recent paper leak scam in APPSC, Khandu said the state government is alive to the over-age concerns of aspirants for no fault of theirs and therefore has decided to increase the age limit. "It was our government that had increased the age limit for APPSC examinations from 35 to 37. Now we will increase it to 40 for benefit of all aspirants including those who have been deprived of a fair chance due to a few vested interest persons," the chief minister said.

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He said that the state public service commission is in process of complete overhaul and soon a robust and stricter SoP would be in place as is with the Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB). The chief minister assured the people that his government will deal with all kinds of corruption with a iron hand and warned corrupt officials.

"I as a chief minister may not have the power to give employment but I still have the power to take it away," he said. In line with the central pay commission (CPC) recommendations, Khandu further announced that the dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) of all regular state government employees would be enhanced by four per cent that would take the DA/DR from 28 to 32 per cent with effect from July 1 this year.

The state government employees will also now receive House Rent Allowance (HRA) at par with central government employees, he said. Khandu further announced that non practising allowance (NPA) would be paid to government doctors from now on, which was a long pending request of the doctor fraternity of the state. He said tat in implementing all these announcements, the state exchequer will have to bear additional burden of Rs 172 crore per year.

He, however, said that his government is capable and ready to bear the extra burden. "Our government is a performing government. In recent years we have more than doubled our revenue generation and Rs 172 crore is but a small amount to be spent on welfare of our employees, who in fact are the backbone of the government," the chief minister said. Khandu, hoped that 68,000 state government employees would reciprocate positively and perform their duties with sincerity and diligence.