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Agartala, Oct 23 (IANS) The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on Thursday canceled, short-terminated or restricted nine trains, including four express trains, due to blockade of railway tracks at several places by civil society activists affiliated with the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) in Tripura.
Tiprasa Civil Society (TCS), led by TMP MLA Ranjit Debbarma, observed a 24-hour bandh in Tripura in support of their eight-point demands including deportation of illegal immigrants.
NFR Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said that four express trains including Sabroom (Tripura) – Sealdah Kanchenjunga Express, Charlapalli (Hyderabad) – Agartala, Silchar – Agartala Express and Agartala-Silchar Express as well as five other local trains were short-terminated or controlled or cancelled.
Thousands of passengers were left in a difficult situation due to sudden cancellation and short-termination of many important express and local trains.
Sharma said bandh supporters and protesters blocked railway tracks at several places in Tripura since Thursday morning, forcing the NFR to take these steps.
To make the bandh a success, protesters carrying the national flag staged sit-ins at more than 52 major locations and highways across the state and at some places along the railway tracks in West Tripura and Khowai districts, a senior police officer said.
“There is no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the state. The situation is under the control of the police and administration,” the official said. He said that large contingents of security forces, including Tripura State Rifles (TSR) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), have been deployed across the state.
Tiprasa Civil Society (TCS), led by TMP MLA Ranjit Debbarma, called for a 24-hour strike on Thursday to highlight their eight-point demands. The demands include immediate implementation of the Tiprasa Agreement, identification and deportation of all illegal immigrants, setting up detention camps in each district for illegal immigrants, holding elections for village committees under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) and introduction of the Inner Line Permit system to prevent infiltration.
Debbarma, who is also a senior TMP leader, said several BJP-ruled states, including Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi, have taken steps against illegal immigrants, but the Tripura government is yet to take action despite directions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
“The BJP government conducts elections in all urban and rural bodies, but is not conducting elections for village committees under TTAADC,” the tribal leader told the media.
–IANS
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