Agartala, Nov 03, 2022, TRIPURATIMES Desk
Agartala, Nov 03: Expressing concern over the growing crimes against women across the Tripura opposition leader and former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Thursday asked Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha and Director General of Police to break their silence over the unwanted issues occurring in the state.
Addressing a press conference here at the party office of the CPI-M, Sarkar said, “We have seen several incidents of rape one after another during the last few days in the end of October this year, where some people were arrested while the prime accused mainly belonging to the ruling party are still at large due to the deliberate role of the police. We have also seen that in some cases either minister’s son or relatives of the ministers and influential leaders are found to be directly involved with the rape incident.”
“Despite the cases of crime against women are growing at an alarming rate in the state, the Chief Minister who also holds the home portfolio and the DGP of Tripura police is still silent on the issues and they are unable to break their silence before the media,” he told reporters.
Sarkar said, “Police is playing a very inactive role over booking the prime accused persons as they are acting on behest of the ruling party to back those sons of ministers and relatives of influential leaders. In that way police are simply earning a bad fame.”
Sarkar however asked the Chief Minister and the DGP to break their silence on the issues. He said, “Police should do their duty independently rather than acting on direction of any political parties or else people of this state will lose all their trust from the Presidential medal awardee police of Tripura.”
On the other hand, Manik Sarkar alleged that the state of Tripura presently reeling under ‘Police Raj’, where the unemployed youths and students are being restricted from their activities. “Whenever the unemployed youths and the students are approaching to the ministers or chief minister to ask for their rights, police forces are being used to restrict them and they are being beaten and charged by the police,” Sarkar said on Thursday.
He said, “When the qualified trained nurses who were left unemployed since 2018, approached to meet in deputation with the Chief Minister, also the health minister of the state on October 31, they were restricted from placing their demand of employment. Police forces are being used mostly, which intervened on their deputation programme. On the next day on November 1 last, we have seen that the TET qualified aspirants, who tried to meet the education minister on his residence, were restricted from meeting the minister as police force was exercised to stop them.”
Sarkar continued lambasting the BJP government and said, “This government, which mainly tempted the youths and students of this state with their false promises in their vision document in 2018, are now using police force to stop them from demanding employment. The unemployed youths of this are being deprived at large under the rule of this BJP government.
On a different note, Manik Sarkar on Thursday expressed concern over the hike of MBBS course fee in Tripura medical College (TMC). He said, “The MBBS course fee is hiked from Rs. 21,85,275 to Rs. 67,45,374 now. Initiative was taken to run the TMC medical college through an autonomous body, where government had built the infrastructure in the college to ease the medical students pursue MBBS degree. We have not opened the college for business.”
Sarkar however demanded the government to withdraw the hiked fee structure and retain back the reasonable fee structure so as to bring down the burden from the students belonging to the poor section mainly.