Arunachal: Former AAPSU president slams state government for failing to find out missing mountaineers

As the whereabouts of the missing mountaineers Tapi Mra and his assistant Niku Dao remains undisclosed, All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union's (AAPSU) former president, Hawa Bagang on October 23 condemned the state government and authorities for their failure to trace the missing mountaineers.

Both Tapi Mra and his assistant Dao have been missing for the past two months when they went to explore the snow-capped Mount Kyarisatam, one of the highest peaks of Arunachal Pradesh. 

''Obviously, the district administration has to follow some protocols, but it should not have outright rejected the suggestions of the local people. The local indigenous tribal people know Arunachal much better than these officers and security personnel who are posted in the state from mainland Indian states,'' Bagang told India Today NE. 

''As the Khyarisatam mountains are far and not connected by road it takes twenty days to reach the base camps on foot but if army helicopters had airlifted, the local mountaineers could have reached the site within half an hour,'' he added. 

He further said that this incident is an eye-opener for the state government, adding, ''It should learn from it and develop a proper protocol for any such search and rescue operation in the future''.

He also alleged that the search and rescue operation initiated by the family of Mra was delayed due to bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of set guidelines. 

''The search and rescue could have been done in a much better way if the authorities had trusted the local knowledge,'' he said. 

He further stressed proper guidelines as mountaineers come to the state across the world.

According to the former AAPSU President who is a native of East Kameng, ancestors of their district prohibit them from visiting mysterious Kyarisatam locally known as 'Kradaadi mountains' near China as according to them a spiritual ghost used to manipulate the minds of mountaineers.

Hawa further mentioned that it's their territory and if any intruder regularly tries to climb this mountain, they take revenge in several forms.

Earlier, two search and rescue operations, led by East Kameng DC Pravimal Abhishek Polumatla, failed to yield any results. However, the rescue team involving local mountaineers, local porters, and family members of Mra, managed to retrieve the duo’s belongings from Camp 2 of Mt Khayari Satam. 
 

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