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 got from local inhabitants, it is clear that Chinese incursions are not a recent phenomenon. It has been happening for some time now. The recent statement of the chief of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) shows that things have gone beyond. How long can the truth be hidden?” Jerang added.On October 22, ITBP’s director general, Shatrujeet Kapur, had said that Indian and Chinese forces are locked in standoffs at more than one location along the Arunachal Pradesh frontier. This was the first official word on how widespread the friction has escalated since July.“The Taksing visit was an eye-opening experience for me. It is clear the state and Union government are hiding the fact of Chinese incursions from the public. In Siang valley districts, the government is in extraordinary hurry to build the dam by citing the Chinese, but in Upper Subansiri where real intrusion is happening, the government is saying nothing like that. Isn’t there a contradiction here?” said Jerang.During its visit to Upper Subansiri district, the PPA fact-finding delegation interacted with the locals of Taksing, Maja and Gelemo along with Senior Defence Personnels and army jawans stationed there.“While the ground reports of the Chinese incursions were found to be inexplicable yet irrefutable, the nature of Chinese intrusions have been reported to be well calculated, gradual and persistent with the same Modus Operandi being repeated over the years,” says the press release issued by PPA president and incumbent MLA Nabam Vivek based on the fact-finding committee’s findings.‘PLAs activities continue to remain active throughout’The press release adds that the regular patrolling is done only between the months of April to October as the patrolling is discontinued between rest of the months because of inclement/hostile weather with heavy snowfall. The Siang river in Pasighat. Photo: Deep Mukherjee.“Whereas the PLAs activities continue to remain active throughout. This could be ascertained by the way porters are engaged to fetch logistics support to the armies arranged by the local contacts. The non engagement of porters reveal the discontinuance of patrolling activities by the Indian armies along the LAC,” the PPA press release says.It further adds that the proposed Frontier Highways should in no way be made to deviate from Taksing, considering the strategic importance of its location along the LAC (Line of Actual Control).The PPA release says the patriotic locals suggested to the committee that the ongoing BRO (Border Roads Organisation) road constructions from Nacho to Taksing should be taken up on war footing as the progress of the road construction has been found to be miserably sluggish and the road conditions horribly pathetic, making it unfit for “seamless and faster movements of men and equipment to the Eastern Border.” The other suggestions of locals to the fact-finding committee include the construction of a helipad at Sipi 2, construction of permanent Army base camps at Sipi 4 and Sipi 6 being the immediate need of the hour to keep at bay the Chinese PLAs and that the proposed BRO road from Gelemo to Pokorla spanning 68 kms should be taken up on top priority. “Immediate provision for regular power connectivity instead of the ones generated by diesel power sets with efficient telephonic network facility have been the two most disturbing grievances pointed out by both the army jawans and the locals. The poor power and network connectivity seemed demotivating to the army javans [jawans] and locals guarding the border regions like Maja, Gelemo,” says the PPA release.Also read: Special | At Pasighat, Everyone – Including a Veteran BJP Leader – Is Against the Siang Dam ProjectPPA was once an ally of BJPAt present the PPA has two MLAs in the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. PPA was one of the founding members of the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) in 2016. In September 2016, the ruling Congress government was ousted after 43 Congress MLAs including chief minister Pema Khandu, joined the PPA, which back then was an ally of the BJP. Three months later, in December 2016, 33 PPA MLAs led by CM Khandu – who had earlier switched from Congress to PPA in September – joined the BJP, giving the saffron party a government with majority in Arunachal Pradesh.Thereafter, in 2017, BJP broke its alliance with the PPA. After winning the 2024 assembly elections from the Doimukh assembly constituency after defeating a BJP candidate, PPA president Vivek had assured unconditional support to the CM Khandu-led BJP government in Arunachal Pradesh. However, the BJP has not officially allied with the PPA since severing ties with the party in 2017.CM Khandu’s flip flops over alleged border transgressionsPrior to the fact-finding committee’s visit, concerns about Chinese incursions were raised in late June, when the Nah Welfare Society, a tribal organisation, alleged that the PLA had expanded its presence in areas traditionally used by local communities near Taksing.The Indian Army subsequently rejected the allegations, saying reports claiming recent Chinese encroachment and the setting up of camps in Arunachal Pradesh were “incorrect and without any basis”.In August, when Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Khandu was asked by reporters about alleged encroachment by the Chinese, he said, “No signs of encroachment in Arunachal Pradesh; Indian Army effectively patrolling and safeguarding the territory.”However, on October 29, a week after the ITBP chief’s statement confirming continuing face-offs with Chinese troops at several points in Arunachal, CM Khandu made a turnaround and said that “transgressions” keep happening along the frontier since China does not recognise the McMahon Line.“No doubt transgression has happened. It keeps happening. It is nothing new since the border is not defined. The situation is quite normal now and our Armed Forces are guarding the border very well,” said Khandu.After Khandu’s October 29 statement, the Congress attacked the BJP over CM Khandu’s flip flops over the issue and accused BJP leaders of rationalising Chinese actions.“Only this summer, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu dismissed reports of Chinese incursions in Taksing. Now he admits: “No doubt transgression has happened.” So much for the PM’s “na koi ghusa hai.” Worse, he treats it as normal: “It keeps happening. It is nothing new.” “The situation is quite normal now.” “Our soldiers go (to) that side, their patrolling parties also come (to) this side sometimes.” The CM said this a week after the ITBP Director General confirmed face-offs at several locations in Arunachal. Some are still ongoing,” said Congress MP and the party’s general secretary in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh.PPA vice president Jerang, who is also a member of the Adi tribe – the community spearheading the opposition to construction of the dam as part of the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), says that the BJP government in the state is under pressure from the Union government to deny reports about Chinese expansion.“We are very concerned by the way the state government is going about the SUMP issue. As for the issue of Chinese incursions, the government must be under pressure from Delhi to deny reports of Chinese incursions,” said Jerang.