Rail, road traffic affected as clamour for Tipraland grows
Road and rail traffic was affected in Tripura on Monday as the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) party leaders and supporters launched an indefinite blockade to demand Tipraland.
The IPFT is demanding carving out Tipraland state from the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council at Khumulwung in West district, about 23 km from state capital Agartala.
“The blockade is a part of our long-standing statehood demand. Our movement will be peaceful,” said IPFT chief NC Debbarma.
The IPFT had carried out a 24-hour blockade of NH-8 and railways last year to press for Tipraland.
The body claims the indigenous community has seen little development under the Left Front government that CM Manik Sarkar has been heading uninterrupted since 1998.
Police stepped up security at Khamting in Barmura Range of National Highway 8 (NH-8), where IPFT activists launched the blockade at 6am. The highway connects Tripura to the rest of the country through Assam.
Railway authorities decided to terminate the Sealdah- Agartala Kanchanjungha Express at Badarpur after the strike.
Rail passengers faced even more trouble as several trains in Assam were disrupted due to a ‘rail roko’ agitation by All Assam Koch Rajbanshi Students’ Union.
Vehicles stayed off NH-8 and no violence was reported from the blockade site.
The Left Front government slammed the IPFT. CPM state secretary Bijan Dhar said the Tipraland demand was not democratic.
“The IPFT is losing importance in the hill areas and their Tipraland movement is a desperate attempt to hold on. We oppose the stir and urge them to withdraw it.”
Dhar added, “IPFT leaders met DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) minister Jitendra Singh, who is also minister of state in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), in May and then announced the blockade. It is clear the BJP is backing them.”
The IPFT dismissed the CPM allegation that the BJP was supporting its statehood movement.
The IPFT has indicated it will withdraw the blockade if the Centre agrees to call for either a bipartite or tripartite meeting to consider its statehood demand, among others.
The beleaguered administration in Darjeeling hoped to count on the heavens that opened up since Saturday morning to curb the violence in Darjeeling hills, even as agitators set fire to two guest houses and a panchayat office on Sunday.
A section of the officials felt the extent of agitation and vandalism would have been more but for the incessant rain since Sunday. On Sunday and Monday, though some agitators came out on the streets carrying umbrellas, the size of the crowd was smaller compared to that on Saturday. “Come rain or flood, our movement will continue,” said GJM assistant secretary Binay Tamang.