Tripura: BJP for judicial probe into academia 'irregularities'

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday demanded a judicial probe into the various irregularities in academic sectors in Left-ruled Tripura, a party leader said.

"Serious wrongdoing was established in the evaluation of examination papers conducted by the Tripura Board of Secondary (TBSE) education. Marks of a large number of students were increased after answer sheets were checked by the examinees during the last several years," BJP leader Sudip Roy Barman told the media.

He said: "Only a judicial probe by a sitting high court judge will be able to find the real reasons for discrepancies in evaluation of answer sheets and identify the wrongdoers, or else the future of a large number of meritorious students will get ruined."

Barman said in different nursing courses meritorious girls were getting deprived of admissions.

"Due to the irrigularities and favouratism and subsequent court orders, 10,323 government teachers would lose their jobs after December 31," the BJP legislator said, adding that entire educational system had collapsed due to the mis-governance of the Left Front government.

Led by Barman, six lawmakers and hundreds of former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders and workers had joined the BJP on August 7. The Congress legislators had in June last year resigned from the party and joined the TMC to protest against the Congress' electoral alliance with the Left for the 2016 West Bengal elections.

"Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar projected himself as a very clean man, but during his tenure corruption in Tripura got institutionalised and he is helping the people to be corrupt and indulge in fraudulent acts," he alleged.

Following the opposition parties' hue and cry and a PIL in the high court, the court had last year asked the state government to conduct special audit of expenditure of government funds in all 58 blocks.

Earlier this week, the Tripura government through self pro-clamation gave clarifications on 10 allegations and misdeeds.

Barman said that the eight-page self-proclamation of the Left government's was a half-truth and an attempt to cover-up many scams, misdeeds and misgovernance.

"Following years of demand, the state government has constituted Lokayukta to probe the corruption by officials, political leaders and people holding high positions. But the Lokayukta has been made a toothless body and a body with its hands ties," the BJP leader said.

--IANS

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