Indian Tribal News Service
Guwahati/New Delhi
With the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) passing a Bill for raising its own ‘unarmed’ police force for the areas under its jurisdiction, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb said “this is not the way laws are enacted”.
The Chief Minister said he did not get any written intimation from the district council authorities even as he wondered how the ADC would arrange finances for raising the force. He pointed out that there is a difference between running an administration and heading a political party.
“This is not the way the laws are enacted. We are yet to be apprised of how the rules are being framed, how they are planning to raise the police, and in what terms the force will act. Until and unless I am told about this decision in writing, I won’t be able to understand the nitty-gritty of the decision,” Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb said
The Chief Minister’s reaction came a couple of days after the TTAADC passed three resolutions and four Bills in the council, including a legislation for its own police force.
TTAADC Chairman and senior Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) leader Jagadish Debbarma had 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 the police force 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.
TIPRA, which is spearheading a movement for a separate Tipraland, is now also galvanizing support for a police force of its own for the TTAADC. 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.
