Opposition picks holes in Tripura Lokayukta Act
Correspondent
AGARTALA, Dec 17 – Picking holes in Tripura Lokayukta Act, Opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath on Saturday alleged that the appointment of Justice (Retd) PK Sarkar as Lokayukta was yet another step to safeguard corruption and malpractices in the Marxist-ruled Tripura.
Under the Act, the Lokayukta could not undertake investigation against the Chief Minister without approval by majority members of the Assembly which means it (Lokayukta) would not work independently, said Nath while addressing a press conference here.
“The Chief Minister will take the decision whether the Lokayukta can initiate probe against any Minister after receiving corruption complaint”, he said.
Expressing surprise at barring the entire bureaucracy right from Chief Secretary to Director to employees and Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council from the ambit of the Act, Nath said “The Act is nothing but eyewash of the CPM- led Left Front Government to cover up the corruption that has been legalised under the regime of Manik Sarkar”.
Asserting that corruption has become the single biggest challenge in the Marxist-ruled Tripura, Nath said that the suggestions of Left Front allies like RSP, CPI and two opposition parties – Congress and Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) were ignored while formulating the Act.
Nath also pointed out finger at the provision for the appointment of the Lokayukta. “The Lokayukta must be appointed after consultation with the Chief Justice of High Court instead of political choice”, he said.
Branding Justice Sarkar, the first Lokayukta of the State as a CPM cadre, Nath said “He has neither high integrity nor has he prominence to assume such a high-profile post. Justice Sarkar’s appointment is nothing but a desperate attempt of the CPM in establishing party raj in Tripura”.
He further demanded resignation of the Lokayukta to pave the way for the most deserving candidate for the post. It may be noted that Justice (Retd) Sarkar was administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor Dr DY Patil at a simple ceremony in Raj Bhavan here on Friday.
Source: Assam Tribune
Tripura Govt accepts NEET for medical admission
Correspondent
AGARTALA, Nov 23 – Tripura Government has agreed to switch over to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission in MBBS course for the next academic session.
After taking into consideration all aspects, the government has on principle decided to go ahead with the MCI mulled NEET that will be mandatory for the medical admission in the country from next academic session, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Tapan Chakraborty here on Wednesday.
“But a decision on whether the government will demand for conducting NEET in vernacular languages is yet to be finalised”, he said to a question.
Chakraborty said the NEET would be conducted centrally and 85 per cent seats of the government-run medical colleges will be reserved for domicile students while rest 15 per cent will go to Central pool. Though the entire admission will be based on NEET results, there is no provision of Central pool in case of private or society-run medical colleges, he said.
It means, while 15 seats of Agartala Govt Medical College will be reserved for Central pool, there will be no seat for Central pool in society-run Tripura Medical College.
It may be noted that States like Gujarat, Karnataka and West Bengal have already asked if the national NEET could be conducted in their vernacular languages. Some NE States had objections to the eligibility conditions of NEET.
Source: Assam Tribune
Tripura awarded for tele-homoeopathy
Agartala, Nov 23 (IANS): Tripura has become the only NE State to receive an international award for tele-homoeopathy, where patients in rural areas are diagnosed by doctors through video-conferencing, a minister said here on Wednesday.
“Tripura recently received the international award at the Health World Expo-2011 in New Delhi for successful implementation of THTM (tele-homeopathy treatment method),” state Health Minister Tapan Chakraborty told reporters.
“The tele-homoeopathy treatment project was launched in Tripura in February last year and so far 21,550 rural people, 60 percent of them women, have been treated,” the minister added.
The project was initiated in different parts of the country by the Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) department under the union ministry of health and family welfare.
Patients and doctors sitting in different places, including Kolkata and Delhi, can interact with each other through the THTM. He said that the medicines are provided free of cost to the patients.
Chakraborty said tele-homoeopathy facilities have been extended in ten rural locations in Tripura following an agreement between Tripura government, Kolkata-based National Institute of Homoeopathy and private firm Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS).
“Patients of polyarthritis, women’s gynaecological disorders, anaemia, pregnancy-related diseases, acute and chronic respiratory disease, gastro-intestinal diseases, geriatric problems, skin disorder, and communicable diseases have found exceptional results through the THTM,” the minister added.
Source: Assam Tribune
Banking assistants shot at, Rs.3.25 lakh looted in Tripura
Agartala, Nov 23 (IANS): Armed criminals fired at and injured two banking business correspondents – who help banks take their services to people’s doorstep – and looted from them Rs 3.25 lakh meant for rural jobs scheme in Tripura, police said here on Wednesday.
The hiest occurred late Tuesday at Hachupara, 65 km south of here.
“While two business correspondents — Samrat Bhowmik, 42, and Avik Kumar Dey, 38 — were carrying the Rs 3.25 lakh to distribute the money among the workers of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the culprits fired at them and looted the cash,” sub-divisional police officer Sharmistha Chakraborty told reporters.
Tripura Gramin Bank, a regional rural bank, has engaged local youths and retired bank officials as banking business correspondents to extend banking services to the doorstep of rural people.
The injured were admitted at the Udaipur district hospital.
“Police and paramilitary personnel have launched a massive manhunt to nab the criminals,” the police official said, adding the attackers were not terrorists but local armed criminals.
Source: Assam Tribune
NREGA fails again to hit target in Tripura
Correspondent
AGARTALA, Nov 20 – The much-hyped MGNREGA has once again failed to meet its main target – providing 100 days employment to each jobcard holder in Tripura.
The startling revelation came to light at a review meeting of Rural Development department held at Civil Secretariat here on November 4 last. While job generation under the national flagship programme against each jobcard holder stands at 45 mandays in Dhalai district, it is only 32 mandays in West district till October. The other two districts – North and South are also lagging behind in terms of job generation. While each jobcard holder receives only 34 mandays in North, the same is only 40 mandays in South district.
Talking to reporters, RD Minister Jitendra Chowdhury said that these figures were average job generation under the national flagship programme. “It will go up because all the jobcard holders have not sought job under the MGNREGA”, he said. At least 15,000 jobcards have been made dormant as they did not seek job during the last financial year.
The Centre has so far released Rs 790.77 crore in two phases till October and of which the State has managed to spend Rs 365.07 crore. Chowdhury claimed that the job generation could easily be improved if fund is released on time but this has not been happening. “The State could not spend substantial amount of second instalment as it came only last month”, he pointed out.
It may be noted that the Centre had approved a labour budget of Rs 1,053.12 crore during the 2011-12 financial year. The total number of labourcard holders in the State stands at 5.91 lakh.
Source: Assam Tribune
Tripura alerted over possible quake
Correspondent
AGARTALA, Nov 7 – There is an urgent need to make all the Northeastern States well-equipped in handling disaster keeping in mind their vulnerability, said Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.
“Everybody knows that the North East including Tripura falls under seismic zone V, considered as most vulnerable tremor zone, but the region is still lagging behind in terms of disaster preparedness, he said while addressing a two-day worshop on Disaster Management at Prajna Bhavan here recently.
“Since the North East is vulnerable to earthquakes, the Centre should take special care to ensure capacity building in all the States of the region. Showcasing equipments for disaster management will not help and there must be demonstration at the ground level,” he said.
Calling upon for preparedness, both physical and mental in disaster mitigation, Sarkar said that there must be efforts to raise master trainers because equipment will prove futile if persons could not use sophisticated equipment.
Poking at the Centre’s step-motherly attitude in allocating less amount in disaster preparedness, he said that almost all the States had been given Rs 5 crore each annually for this purpose. “Three Northeastern States – Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura which fall under the seismic zone V have got only Rs 1 crore each annually,” he said.
Making a strong point of inclusion of four key sectors in disaster management, Sarkar said that there must be efforts to ensure power supply, telecommunication, healthcare and drinking water facility even in case of major tremor. Director of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) RK Sinha and high officials from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also joined the workshop.
Meanwhile, the Centre has alerted the State Government about possible earthquake in North and Dhalai districts after the devastating tremor in Sikkim.
Talking to reporters, Revenue Minister Badal Chowdhury said that experts had already predicted a major tremor may hit two districts – North and Dhalai in the State though the entire State falls under seismic zone V. “Accordingly steps are being initiated to make local administration better prepared for any kind of eventuality,” he said.
Adding more woes, the PWD has identified at least 2,000 old buildings including Neermahal, Ujjyanta Palace, Raj Bhavan as potential sites for retrofitting. However, there is need to undertake further study to assess the vulnerability of these buildings, he added.
Source: Assam Tribune
Six Myanmarese held in Tripura, sent to jail
Agartala, Nov 7 (IANS): Six Myanmar nationals arrested for illegally entering Tripura from Bangladesh were on Monday sent to jail for 14 days, police here said.
There were three women among those arrested, all between the ages of 55 and 60. They told police after their arrest in western Tripura on Sunday night that they had crossed over in search of jobs and to see the Buddhist sites in northeast India.
“Acting on intelligence information, Tripura police arrested the Myanmarese from a motorstand in western Tripura Sunday night. On Monday, the detainees were presented before a local court, which sent them to 14 days’ jail custody,” a police official told reporters.
After the 14 days in jail, they would be pushed back to Bangladesh.
“In search of jobs and to visit the Buddhist sites, they illegally crossed over to western Tripura through the unfenced Sonamura border from Bangladesh and attempted to leave for elsewhere in India via Guwahati,” the official said, quoting those arrested.
They told police officials that authorities in Myanmar were indifferent to the plight of the people living in the hilly areas bordering India and Bangladesh. “Intermittently, the Myanmarese Army have committed atrocities on a section of nationals, especially Rohingya Muslim communities,” the official said after speaking to the Myanmarese nationals.
Alleging starvation and torture, they said they had fled from Myanmar to northeastern Bangladesh and then come to India. They were not allowed to travel from one place to another within the country without permission from the army and could not even get married without a nod from authorities.
Over 50,000 Myanmarese have been living in different parts of neighbouring Mizoram, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh.
A Mizoram home department official said: “With the approval of the union home ministry, the state government has given temporary stay permits to these Myanmarese, who work in jewellery shops, vehicular service centres, shops, restaurants and cloth factories and at construction sites.”
Since the mid-1990s, over 225,000 Myanmar nationals have been sheltering in the Teknaf region in Cox’s Bazar district of southeastern Bangladesh.
India’s four northeastern states of Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh share a 1,643 km unfenced border with Myanmar.
Source: Assam Tribune
Tripura to hold concert in Hazarika’s memory
Prabir Sil
AGARTALA, Nov 6 – In memory of legendary singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika who breathed his last on Saturday, Tripura Artists’ Association (TAA), a body of professional artists of the State, will organise a musical event here.
The demise of Bhupen Hazarka, cultural icon, is a great loss not only for Assam but also for the entire country, Amar Ghosh, a member of TAA said here on Sunday.
“I admire him for his passion as he used to sing for social causes”, Ghosh who did not meet the legendary figure but listened to his songs extensively, said.
“The most important part of his songs was the appeal for social cause which is absent in today’s songs”, he said adding the TAA members will meet soon to decide on the best possible way to pay respect to Bhupen Hazarika. “Certainly, the TAA will organise a musical show highlighting his creations”, Ghosh added.
The demise of legendary Bhupen Hazarika has created a void in the cultural front no only in Assam but also in the entire country, said Ranjana Baruah, a prominent singer.
“I heard this shocking news on TV and have no words to express myself”, Baruah, who is currently in Jorhat, Assam, said over telephone on Sunday. She said, he has taken the Assamese folk music to even the international stage.
“I have grown up listening to his music and it has encouraged me a lot”, she said adding that his absence will be felt in every sphere of life.
Samir Kumar Das, an eminent Rabindra researcher said that he had first heard of Bhupen Hazarika in 1952 when he was just gaining popularity.
“His each creation is unique and left people humming his songs like Dil hoom hoom kare……., Ganga behti ho kyon”, he said. “His death has created a vacuum in the cultural front in the North East and we are shocked at his demise”, he added.
Source: Assam Tribune
Strengthen border security: Mizoram, Tripura Governors
Agartala/Aizawl, Oct 31 (IANS): Security along India’s borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar must be strengthened for lasting peace in the region and to curb the smuggling of items such as arms, drugs and counterfeit currency, the governors of Tripura and Mizoram have said at a conference in New Delhi.
Tripura Governor DY Patil and his Mizoram counterpart Vakkom Purushothaman were speaking at the 43rd conference of governors in New Delhi Oct 29-30 addressed by President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram.
In the speech released on Monday, Purushothaman said Mizoram was a peaceful state “but it turns into transit zone for smuggling of drugs, counterfeit currencies and limited arms into and out of the state for insurgent groups in Assam, Manipur and Nagaland”.
“The construction of border fencing along the India-Bangladesh international boundary is progressing well and with the rapid deployment of BSF (Border Security Force) personnel, border crimes have largely tamed,” he added.
“The Assam Rifles which guards the Indo-Myanmar border alongwith other law enforcing agencies on the Indian side have been seizing weapons and drugs and that most offenders are found to be of Myanmar origin,” he stated.
The Tripura governor said it was tough for security agencies in bordering northeastern states to detain the offenders as they crossed the border immediately after carrying out different types of crimes.
“Existing systems to get the help of Bangladesh police to hold the criminals and curb crimes are time taking and complicated. Reviewing the entire system, the police and the concerned authorities of both countries must evolve a purposeful method in this regard,” Patil pointed out.
He urged the central government to complete border fencing at the earliest and stressed on further deployment of BSF troopers to check cross border movement of northeast India based militants.
“The number of Border Out Posts (BOPs) would be increased to 245 from the existing 210 BOPs to improve the vigil on the 856 km India-Bangladesh border with Tripura,” Patil added.
Four northeastern states – Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam – share a 1,880 km border with Bangladesh, while Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh share a 1,640 km unfenced border with Myanmar.
The India-Bangladesh border is manned by the BSF while the India-Myanmar border is guarded by Assam Rifles.
The dense forests, mountainous terrain and unfenced boundaries make the borders porous and vulnerable.
Source: Assam Tribune
Tripura to encourage medicinal plant cultivation
AGARTALA, Oct 29 – The autonomous Tripura Forest Development and Plantation Corporation (TFDPC) has decided to encourage bamboo cultivation and medicinal plant and rare herb plantations, besides rubber, officials said today.
“The plan will be implemented across Tripura where tribals were given land pattas under Forest Right Act,” TFDPC officials said.
About 1.18 lakh tribal people were given pattas under the Act in Tripura.
“A draft has been chalked out for the promotion of bamboo cultivation and medicinal plant and herb plantations here,” they said. About 200 species of medicinal plants and herbs are available in Tripura.
Only recently, an expression of interest for procurement of Kalmegh (Andrigraphis Paniculata) and Shatamuli (Asparagus Recemosus Wild) was invited by the TFDPC.
“TFDPC will financially assist cultivators besides technical support through MGNREGA. The marketing of products will be done by concerned departments,” he said.
“If the work is succesfully implemented and rural people take interest it would boost the economy of the State,” the officials said. – PTI
Source: Assam Tribune
