- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, July 29, 2022 : The displaced people of the West and Sepahijala districts in Tripura threatened the state government for meeting up their demands within seven days or else, they will be forced to launch bigger movements in the coming days.
A three-member delegation under the banner of ‘Paschim Zilla O Sepahijala Zilla Udbastu Unnayan Committee’ (West Tripura district and Sepahijala district Displaced People Development Committee) on Friday submitted a memorandum of three-point charter of demands at the DM office of West Tripura district.
Speaking about their demands in front of the media personnel here in Agartala city on Friday, Committee’s president Sajal Podder said that the government had granted rehabilitation packages to the extremists after surrendering arms and returning to the mainstream of livelihood. However, lives which were affected due to insurgency have been homeless for the last two decades.
He said “No welfare initiative has been taken for us during the previous Left Front government’s regime. Even today, the BJP-led coalition government is yet to take any welfare initiatives for the displaced persons of West Tripura and Sepahijala districts.”
The demands of ‘Paschim Zilla O Sepahijala Zilla Udbastu Unnayan Committee’ are- families fleeing after attacks of extremists should be recognized as ‘Udbastu’, proper resettlement should be arranged for the ‘Udbastu’ families and a one-time grant of Rs 5 lakh should be given to each ‘Udbastu’ family in West Tripura and Sepahijala districts.
Sajal claimed that if their demands are not met within a span of seven days then they will be bound to launch bigger movements against the government. The other members’ are- chairman Gopal Laskar and secretary Rakhal Debnath.
Its worthy to note that there are about 6,500 ‘Udbastu’ families in West Tripura and Sepahijala districts who were rendered homeless due to an armed insurgency and ethnic clashes in the different parts of Tripura since 1980.
