Approve Tripura ADC bills or … TIPRA chief warns of statewide stir

Agartala: TIPRA Motha supemo Pradyot Kishore Debbarman on Friday accused the state government for playing with the emotions of indigenous people of Tripura, noting that a significant number of Bills, which were cleared by the TTAADC, did not receive the Governor’s mandatory assent to get enacted as Law.

Terming the unprecedented delay as the government’s “step motherly” attitude, Debbarman said, “The people living in the TTAADC areas are facing multi-pronged challenges. Water crisis is acute in some parts. Basic amenities like health and education are in a fragile state. The educated youth are running from pillar to post for jobs. To highlight all these issues, we sought an appointment with the Governor, who is the constitutional guardian of TTAADC but he seems to be not willing to meet us.”

A delegation of the elected TTAADC members reached the Tripura Raj Bhavan to submit a written memorandum to Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya, highlighting the problems of TTAADC. The Governor, however, is learnt to have refused to meet the TTAADC delegation as he has not been keeping well.

The MLAs and MDCs of the party then staged a protest in front of the Raj Bhavan to voice their concerns over the Governor’s role and returned after submission of the memorandum to his office.

“We have been told that the Governor is not well. So far we know whenever someone from Kolkata or Delhi comes to meet him, he is quick to respond. But, all the elected representatives of the TTAADC do not deserve to meet him. This is step motherly attitude,” Debbarman alleged.

The memorandum accessed by EastMojo dwells on the pending Bills and shrinking flow of funds from the state government.

According to the memorandum, the total budget of the TTAADC for the fiscal year 2022-23 was Rs 619.28 crore and Rs 126.59 crore of the total allocation is yet to be released by the state government. In the current financial year, only Rs 4.24 crore was released for carrying out development works in the TTAADC areas. Apart from that, a total of 10 Bills of five departments were pending for final approval of the Governor, along with 16 customary laws of different tribal communities.  

“In our letter we have categorically said that if the state government does not act swiftly to settle our demands, we shall launch mass agitation across the state. I want to make it very clear once again that our protests would not be against any particular community. Those who have deceived us will be the target of our protests. There is a habit of branding every agitation as communal, but we have no other option,” Debbarman pointed out.

The TIPRA supremo was accompanied by MLA Brishaketu Debbarma, MLA Swapna Debbarma, MLA Ranjit Debbarma, TTAADC Executive Member Kamal Kaloi and others.

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