Indian Tribal News Service
Guwahati/New Delhi
The Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA), which is spearheading a movement for a separate Tipraland, is now also galvanizing support for a police force of its own for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
TTAADC Chairman and senior TIPRA leader Jagadish Debbarma has been quoted by news agencies as saying that the Autonomous District Council Police Bill requires discussions for at least 10 days in one or more sessions of the Council before its passage. He said it is needed to maintain law and order even as he claimed a decrease in State’s tribal population and an increase in the non-tribal population.
Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik, however, rejected his claims.
While TIPRA is led by Tripura’s royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarman, the TTAADC covers two-thirds of the State’s territory and is home to tribals who constitute a third of Tripura’s estimated 40 lakh population.
TTAADC Chairman Jagadish Debbarma pointed out that the latest move is nothing new as in 1994, the Congress-TUJS controlled ADC had passed a resolution in the council to raise its police force and the proposal was sent to the Governor for his approval.
Then again, in 2007, the Governor had approved a Bill in this regard but which was not implemented 2007 due to some technical reasons, Debbarma said.
“After detailed discussions, the tribal council will prepare rules, which should be passed in the council. Once the rules are framed and passed, the ADC will be able to recruit police personnel,” he told the news agencies.
TIPRA had swept the TTAADC elections in April this year, winning 18 of the 28 seats. In the 30-member tribal council, elections are held in 28 seats. Representatives for the remaining two seats are nominated by the governor on the advice of the state government.
Tipraland is the name given to the separate state that tribals want carved out from Tripura by constitutional powers. Recently, hundreds of party members gathered at Jantar Mantar in a show of strength and demanding a separate Tipraland.
