Among the 45 Tibetan Settlements spread across India, Nepal and Bhutan under the jurisdiction of Department of Home, Central Tibetan Administration, three major Tibetan settlements and a few numbers of cluster units are situated in Arunachal Pradesh, one of the northeastern state of India. Tibetans living in these settlements survive their daily life by farming land and doing small business. On behalf of Tibetans living in Arunachal Pradesh, we would like to thank the Government of India and especially to the concerned state government and people of Arunachal Pradesh for their profound support and assistance rendered to the Tibetan living in the state.
Because of the fact that internal political conflicts happen in the state of Arunachal from time to time, the Tibetans living there have been experiencing various problems as an inevitable ripple effects of these conflicts. On the night of Feb, 14th 2019, on the pretext of protesting against state government’s plan to grant Permanent Resident Certificate (PRC) to some minorities living in the state, some local people in Naharlagun, a nearby town of state capital Itanagar, staged protest march. Among many unfortunate incidents meted out during the protest, the devastation of Takar Complex by fire in the midst of the protest in Naharlagun inflicted huge loss to 16 Tibetan families who owned shops and restaurants in the Complex. This tragic incident claimed virtually all their lifelong saving.
On 7 March 2019, representatives of the 16 families came to Dharamsala and met Hon. Sikyong (President of CTA), Speaker of Tibetan Parliament in-Exiles and this office. CTA assured to extend every possible assistance. At the very instant of this tragic incident happened there, Department of Home, CTA, in an expression of the spirit of solidarity and cooperation, issued an urgent appeal to outside organizations and individuals and also to all Tibetans living across India, Nepal and Bhutan for relief fund donation. And accordingly, we received a donation of INR. 3,639,362/- on time from generous public and different organizations.
As per the instruction we have distributed the donation equally among the 16 families with each family receiving INR. 227,000/- to rehabilitate them to their normal lives. Remaining INR. 7,362 was spent on miscellaneous expenditure incurred by the concerned settlement office during administering the relief support. Taking this opportunity, the Department of Home would like to appreciate the overwhelming generosity of all the donors and in future wherever such incidents happen we sincerely request the continuation of all of our donors’ unstinting support.
-Filed by Department of Home, CTA