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Central team to visit Tripura

A high-level Central team, led by Union Home Secretary Kamal Pandey, will visit Tripura for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation following escalated militancy and ethnic violence in the northeastern state for the past month.

Official sources said on Friday that the team will arrive in Agartala on May 31 for a two-day visit, to review whether central forces are effectively deployed in counter-insurgency operations by the state government.

Other members of the team will be Border Security Force Director General E M Ram Mohan, Central Reserve Police Force Director General M N Sabarwal and Home Ministry Joint Secretary for northeastern affairs G K Pillai.

The sources said the Union home ministry was unhappy with the deployment and use of central forces in the state for anti-insurgency operations. The ministry will also extend the Disturbed Areas Act to the entire state to flush out militants if the state wanted.

The Act has been promulgated in 27 police station areas (in 22 areas the Act is invoked fully and in the others partially). The state has 45 police station areas.

The Union government recently sanctioned an additional 10 companies of the central paramilitary forces, of which six companies are of the Central Reserve Police Force and four of the counterinsurgency-trained Assam Rifles.

The state had been demanding an additional five battalions of the army to intensify anti-insurgency operations.

Meanwhile, West Tripura District Magistrate Manoj Kumar said curfew continued for the seventh day on Friday in violence-hit Khowai sub-division though it was relaxed for seven hours.

The situation is under control and there has not been any fresh incident for four days, Kumar said and added that the Army and paramilitary and state security forces continued a strict vigil in troubled-torn areas where 45 people were killed in recent violence.

Militants had also burnt down several houses. Police and security posts have been set up in 21 violence-hit areas, he added.

Senior security and civil administration officials are monitoring the situation. More than 9,000 families have taken shelter in various relief camps. Kumar said it would take time before people returned home.

UNI

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