Shantirbazar, Apr 05, 2025, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Santribazar, Apr 05. Slogans against police administration rocked Santirbazar after hundreds of women from both tribal and non-tribal Bengali communities joined hands to wage a battle against drug abuse in their area.

They named their association as “Rajapur Action Committee”.

Since the formation of the committee, the women volunteers of the outfit organised raids in the areas identified as hotspots of drug trafficking and detained peddlers. Later, they were handed over to the police for legal action.

The committee members on Friday night staged demonstration in front of Manpathar police outpost after they came to know that the drug peddlers whom they had caught hold of and handed over to police personnel had been released.

The women activists affiliated to the newly formed social movement against drugs vented their anger against the newly appointed SDPO of Santirbazar Bapi Debbarma.

Amidst massive sloganeering and vehement protests, one of the activists informed media persons that it was because of the inaction of the police department, availability of narcotic substances increased substantially.

“The police and the administration are no less than mute spectators of the rising drug menace in our area. Two houses behind the police station are found to be dealing in narcotic substances under the nose of police. It is our committee which unearthed the narcotic substances from that house. Even those who are being handed over to the police for legal action are being released within a short notice. The police are not doing enough,” one of the women volunteers identified as Mridula Marak asserted.

Describing their “action committee” as an outcome of long accumulated anger through a mass movement, she said, “We have so far raided five to six locations and detained drug peddlers. We are driven by the idea that society should be free of the malice of drugs. The Lives of our children are at stake and we have to take the initiative. Whenever we receive information, we intervene promptly. Many of us have to compromise with household chores like cooking for the family to fight the greater social evil.”

The protestors also demanded immediate removal of the Santirnazar SDPO Bapi Debbarma holding him responsible for the free run of drug peddlers in the area.