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Monday 5 September 2011

Noisy scenes in Tripura assembly on last day

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Agartala, Sep 05, 2011 : Noisy scenes and heated exchanges again marred the last day of the monsoon session of the state assembly over the chief minister Manik Sarkar's statement on the violent incidents on July 11 in connection with the agitation programme of Congress and the privilege motion brought in by leader of the opposition Ratanlal Nath against the minister for school education, Tapan Chakraborty .

After the scheduled question hour had passed off peacefully without any hiccup, leader of the opposition Ratanlal Nath stood up at zero hour to know the fate of the privilege motion brought by him against minister for school education Tapan Chakraborty . Chakraborty had cited amounts of salaries given to teachers recruited for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in a report published in a local news daily and in his privilege motion Nath had challenged the authenticity of the figures.

Responding to Nath's query speaker Ramendra Debnath said that he had rejected the privilege motion as the rules of procedure and conduct of business in Tripura assembly preclude any privilege motion on the basis of newspaper reports. Ratanlal Nath, backed up by nine other Congress MLAs, protested the rejection and charged the speaker with wrongly interpreting the rule . The heated exchanges between the speaker and the opposition MLAs continued for ten minutes after which the Congress MLAs relented and Ratanlal Nath rationalized their position saying the minister should keep track of what appears in the media in his name .

The fracas over the privilege motion was followed by the chief minister's pre-scheduled statement on the incidents of violence in the state capital on July 11 when an innocent youth Papai Saha had died from firing by unidentified elements. In his statement the chief minister Manik Sarkar said that on July 11 Congress had organised a procession with prior permission from police. Around 4-50 in the afternoon when the frontal part of the procession had moved ahead a group of 'unruly youths' in the rear had engaged in heated arguments with the police and TSR jawans on duty and then started brickbattting . 'In the brickbatting by unruly Congressmen one TSR jawan (6th battalion) Bhujvir Chuahan, one additional SP Kamal Chakraborty , 31 other police and TSR jawans , 33 civilians and three media-persons had sustained injuries' said the chief minister. He added that Congressmen had stormed into West Agartala police station and ransacked it besides assaulting police and TSR jawans on duty and in order to tackle the situation TAR resorted to lathi-charge, tear gas shell bursting and then firing twenty seven rounds in the air. On the issue of Papai Saha's death Sarkar said that around 8-00 in the night police personnel had received information that the youth had died in G.B.hospital after sustaining bullet injury.

The chief minister also said that police had registered criminal cases against Congress MLAs Ratanlal Nath, Subal Bhowmik , Sudip Roy Barman and state youth Congress president Sushanta Chowdhury . 'The CID is still inquiring into the case but report of the magisterial inquiry has already been submitted to the government by DM (West) Brijesh Pande. The chief minister's statement was greeted with a howl of protest by the opposition that charged Sarkar with reading a 'false and misleading report'. However, normalcy was restored after the chief minister assured the house that all angles of the 'ugly incidents' were being investigated by the CID and the opposition would be duly informed of this.

Meanwhile, replies furnished by the chief minister Manik Sarkar who also holds the home portfolio have brought to light the growing stress and instability in familial and social life in the state . Replying to a query raised by leader of the opposition Ratanlal Nath, the chief minister said that during the five month period from March 1 to July 31 this year altogether 330 persons-that is, more than two a day- have committed suicide in the state. This figure includes 114 women but no reason was cited for the suicides.

In another instance of increasing instability in family or conjugal life, altogether 687 divorce cases have been filed in courts across the state during the seven month period between January 1 and July 31 this year. 'This is alarming because as per simple arithmetic more than three divorce cases have been filed a day during this period and the trend is certainly continuing' said leader of the opposition Ratanlal Nath, adding that the twin issues of divorce and suicide needed to be thoroughly looked into.

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