Bandh in Tripura tribal council area affects normal life

Normal life was crippled in the tribal council area of Tripura on Saturday during the dawn-to-dusk bandh called by five indigenous parties to protest against the police firing at Madhabbari earlier this week.

The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) comprises two-third of the state's territory and is home to the tribals, who constitute a third of the state's population.

Khumulwng town, the headquarters of the tribal council and around 18 km from here, wore a deserted look as shops downed their shutters, markets remained closed and vehicles stayed off the roads. Schools, colleges and government offices also remained closed, the police said.

On Tuesday, seven people were injured at Madhabbari in West Tripura district when the police and the paramilitary forces resorted to lathi-charge and fired in the air to disperse those protesting against the citizenship bill.

The parties, who called the bandh, are the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT-Tipraha), Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipura (INPT), Twipra State Party (TSP), National Conference of Tripura (NCT) and Tripura People's Party (TPP).

The entire tribal council area remained peaceful so far and no untoward incident was reported from any part of the council area, and no one was arrested, said Subrata Chakraborty, the state additional inspector general (law and order).

"There were road blockades by the bandh supporters at least in three places. Those are Kalacherra, S K Para and Neilahabari in Dhalai district, Sachirambari in South Tripura district, Amarpur and Takcherra in Gomati district," the AIG said.

The officer said there were no road blockades or demonstrations near Khumulwng and adjacent areas.

When contacted, Radha Charan Debbarma, TTAADC chief executive member and a prominent leader of the opposition CPI(M), said the situation in the tribal council area remained peaceful.

"Over 1,800 schools and eight colleges in TTAADC are closed and no employee turned up in offices. Everything, including markets and shops, remained closed and vehicles remained off the roads," Debbarma said.

West Tripura Superintendent of Police Ajit Pratap Singh said the situation in Madhabbari and adjacent areas was normal.

"The ban on Internet services and prohibitory order under section 144 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) would expire in the evening. If the situation demands, both would continue," he said.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb had told a press conference earlier that a magisterial inquiry was ordered to look into how the incident took place and under what circumstances did the police open fire.