BJP govt not releasing funds to TTAADC, Left Front to agitate

The Left Front in Tripura today said it would launch a week-long agitation, as the BJP-led government allegedly did not release the sanctioned budhetary amount to the TTAADC run by the opposition group, though only a little time are left for the financial year to end.

The TTAADC comprises two-third of the state's territory and is home to the tribals, who constitute a third of the state's population.

Tripura Left Front Chairman Bijan Dhar claimed that the Biplab Kumar Deb government has launched an "economic blockade" against the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) as it is run by the Left Front.

Addressing a press conference here, Dhar said the BJP-Indigenous Front of Tripura coalition which took over power in March last year, has reduced the budgetary sanction of the TTAADC from Rs 582.47 crore to Rs 117.43 crore in the 20182019 financial year.

"But the government is not releasing that amount also with a clear intension of crippling the development works in the TTAADC. We cannot keep mum in such situation. So we have decided to launch a week-long agitation from January 27 to till February 3," he said.

Dhar, also a central committee member of the CPI(M), said the financial year would expire in March and the state government is yet to release Rs 95.38 crore to the tribal council.

Dhar said the Left Front would organize processions, street corner meetings and sit-in demonstrations in various parts of the state demanding immediate release the allocated funds for the tribal council.

The other demands include introduction of three-tier panchayat system in the tribal council area, to increase budgetary allocation for the council and inclusion of Kokbarak, the tribal language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

The TTAADC came into being in 1987 under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to protect and safeguard the interests of the tribals.