Agartala Apr 21 PTI A BSF officer allegedly shot himself dead outside his battalion headquarters in Tripuras Dhalai district police said on ThursdayThe incident happened on Wednesday night in front of the main gate of the BSF camp in the Jawaharnagar area they saidThe deceased a native of Rajasthan was posted at the MK Para border post in Dhalai police saidIt is suspected that he died by suicide Police have initiated an investigation into the incident to know the actual cause of the death a BSF official said The BSF officer was brought dead to the Kulai district hospital around 9 pm Superintendent of Police of Dhalai Ramesh Yadav told PTIPrima facie it appeared that the BSF officer shot himself dead by his service revolver We have registered a case of unnatural death to find out what had led to the fatal incident he saidThe body has been sent for post mortem he added PTI PS SOM SOM

Agartala Apr 18 PTI A middle-aged woman suspected of having an extramarital relationship has been allegedly beaten up and forced to marry her lover in Tripuras Khowai district police said on MondayThe alleged incident took place at Madhya Krishnapur in Teliamura police station area on Saturday night following which the woman has been hospitalised an officer saidBased on a complaint by the woman the police have registered an FIR against 10 villagers a senior police officer saidThe woman said in the complaint that her husband had fled the scene when a group of about 10 to 15 villagers started beating her mercilessly and compelled her to marry the manOfficer in Charge OC Teliamura Police Station Subimal Barman said the Investigating Officer has visited the hospital and recorded the womans statementAn investigation is on to find out the truth he saidThe woman told reporters that on Saturday night 15 people led by her husband took her to a paddy field on suspicion of her having an extra-marital affair and thrashed her mercilessly following which she lost consciousnessHer alleged lover was also roughed upA purported video that went viral on social media showed the woman after regaining consciousness being forced by villagers to exchange garlands with her alleged lover amid ululationIt also showed some youths compelling the man to apply vermillion on the womans foreheadThe womans husband confessed before the media that he and his family members beat her up for her alleged relationship with a man of the same villageAfter the incident I took her to Teliamura hospital for treatment and I spent the whole night there The police visited my residence he said without sounding repentantTripura Commission for Women TCW Chairperson Barnali Goswami condemned the alleged incidentIn a civilised society we cant tolerate such gruesome torture on a woman Forceful marriage between a married woman and a man is not a natural practice We will send a team to meet the victim to know the actual sequence of events she said PTI PS SBN ACD MM MM

Agartala Mar 18 PTI The opposition CPIM in Tripura slammed the state Budget for 2022-23 fiscal on Friday claiming that the Biplab Kumar Deb government did not fulfil the promises made by the BJP before the Assembly election in 2018 Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma on Thursday presented a Rs 26893-crore budget for 2022-23 fiscal in the assembly without proposing any new tax while emphasising on development of infrastructure industries and social sector It was the last Budget of the present government People were eagerly waiting for big announcements that will fulfil the promises made in the BJPs vision document unveiled before the 2018 Assembly elections We saw there was no effort to meet the peoples aspirations CPIM state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury told a press conference Chowdhury alleged that the Budget has not made it clear from where funds will come to meet the expenditure He also claimed there is nothing for the government employees who were hoping to get the pay package as per the 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations as promised in the vision document Earlier government employees used to get dearness allowance or dearness relief twice a year but this tradition has been changed in the BJP era the CPIM leader said In the Budget the finance minister said social pension will be hiked for the poor people from Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 But the BJP had declared in 2018 that it would be enhanced in the first cabinet meeting if the party is voted to power Chowdhury said The government should implement it from March 2018 he said Biplab Kumar Deb had on March 9 2018 taken oath as the chief minister of Tripura after the BJP ended the 25-year rule of the CPIM-led Left Front Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shahs announcement here earlier this month that 33 per cent of government jobs will be reserved for women in Tripura Chowdhury claimed that it is not a big deal as the state administration has virtually stopped new recruitments Amit Shah-ji visited the state to repair the damage that the party has suffered after two BJP MLAs resigned and another was disqualified the CPIM leader said BJP legislators Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha resigned from the Tripura assembly and gave up the membership of the party in February They later joined the Congress Tripura Speaker Ratan Chakraborty in January disqualified BJP MLA Ashish Das who has joined the Trinamool Congress The Assembly election is due in the state in 2023 PTI PS NN NN

Agartala Feb 27 PTI Veteran tribal leader Jitendra Choudhury was unanimously elected as the CPIMs Tripura unit state secretaryChoudhury was given the charge after the death of Gautam Das in September last year During the two-day state conference of the party 323 delegates unanimously elected him to the post for a period of three yearsChoudhury is a former minister of the state government and an ex-MPAfter two days of brainstorming in the presence of general secretary Sitaram Yechury politburo member Prakash Karat and opposition leader Manik Sarkar a 70-member state committee of the party was constitutedIn the state committee nine new faces have been included while only four woman leaders found a placeA 16-member state secretariat the CPIMs highest policy-making body in a state was formedRestoration of democratic values will be the top priority for the party as total lawlessness is prevailing across the state Choudhury said on SundayHe also expressed concern over the violence that erupted in Agartala on Saturday leaving several persons injuredThe state is witnessing a fascist rule under the BJP government The police are acting at the behest of a particular party We are confident of restoring democracy in the state with the help of peace-loving people he said PTI PS SOM SOM

Agartala Feb 25 PTI CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said the Left parties require to present a programme before the people which would be an alternative to the Hindutva agenda of BJP and RSS to defeat the saffron party in electionsYechury who was speaking at the partys inner session here laid stress on bringing unity among the Left partiesWe have to present an alternative programme for the people in order to take on the BJP and RSS Side by side there must be all-out efforts to organise the broadest force involving secular parties he saidUrging the Left leaders to intensify agitation against the Hindutva agenda and alleged anti-people policies of the BJP government Yechury said We must try to isolate the BJP ideologically politically organisationally and culturally to ensure its poll defeatOnly the Left parties are left to raise voice against the Hindutva agenda pushed by the Narendra Modi government the CPIM leader claimedYechury took a swipe at the Congress for allegedly failing to stop exodus from the partyCongress leaders are leaving the party every now and then Nobody knows who is coming and who is going he said sarcasticallyA number of Congress leaders have left the party ahead of the ongoing assembly elections in five statesYechury also saluted the farmers for staging a year-long rally protesting against the farm lawsThe Modi government had to roll back the controversial farm laws because of an intense agitation by the farmers Its outcome could be an inspiration for the others he said PTI PS NN NN

Agartala Feb 21PTI Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Monday accused his predecessor Manik Sarkar of leading the youth into the abyss of drug abuse by not taking steps to curb the problem during the nearly 25-year reign of the Left Front government in the border stateThe BJP-IPFT Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura alliance in the northeastern state had ended the nearly 25 years of the Left Front rule in 2018If you take the credit of commencing the new terminal building of MBB Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport you must own the responsibility for driving the young generation to take drugs like brown sugar and cocaine the chief minister said at a government programme at Manikpur a remote tribal village of Dhalai districtDeb laid foundation stones for three bridges with an estimated cost of Rs 533 crore in presence of East Tripura MP Rebati Tripura Lamenting over the drug menace in Tripura the chief minister said a section of youths has started taking injections putting their lives at risk of contracting HIV It was Biplab Kumar Deb who had raised the slogan of making Tripura a drug free state after becoming Chief Minister of the state in 2018 Now the government is showing zero tolerance to drugs to make the slogan true he said The chief minister also highlighted that the BJP-IPFT government does not consider the political affiliation of an individual when it comes to any development schemes be it flagship or state-sponsored Prime Minister Narendra Modi sanctioned 150 lakh dwelling units under PMAY in September 2021 and Rs 709 crore has been released as the first instalment The beneficiaries include several CPIM poor families which show the governments clean mindset During the Left Front regime the list of beneficiaries was prepared based on caste creed and colour he claimed Deb further said the Centre has already released Rs 100 crore for the second instalment of PMAY and each beneficiary will receive it shortly The Centre will sanction 70000 more dwelling units for the state by March or April this year he added PTI PS MM MM

Agartala Feb 18 PTI Tripura Bar Association TBA election was unanimously deferred for an indefinite period due to complaints about the electoral rolls a senior advocate said on FridayThe election to the 15-member TBA was scheduled on February 27 Ten advocates belonging to BJPs Legal Cell had lodged a complaint with Tripura Bar Council alleging that the final voters list was not published as per the guidelinesBased on the complaints Bar Councils chairman Ratan Dutta held a meeting with outgoing president Mrinal Kanti Biswas and secretary Kaushik Indu Returning Officer Sandip Datta Chowdhury was also present in the meetingA detailed discussion on the election process took place in the meeting It was unanimously decided to defer the elections of Tripura Bar Association for an indefinite period due to complaints against the voters list Chowdhury saidThe outgoing committee has been asked to publish the draft electoral rolls afresh by the next 15 days inviting claims and objections he saidOnce the final voters list is prepared it will have to be sent to Tripura Bar Council for final approval The Bar Council has set a target of holding the elections 10 days after final approval of the electoral rolls he said PTI PS SOM SOM