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State issues caution on dengue, says no identified case yet

Agartala, Sep 05, 2012 : The state government issued caution of dengue in Tripura in the face of steadily rising deaths from the disease in West Bengal. Dr. Satya Ranjan Debbarma - Director of the Tripura Health Services, RK Dhar – Director of Family Welfare and Preventive Medicine, Professor Basudeb Bhattacharya – Director of Medical Education said in a press conference on Wednesday that the state government has asked the centre to facilitate immediate survey on dengue in different districts of Tripura. The last survey on dengue in Tripura was held in 2009-2010.



A comparatively small and black & white striped mosquito - Aedes aegypti causes the disease. Stating that Tripura doesnt have any identified presence of the mosquito till date, the officials stated that the fact has reduced possibilities of dengue attack to a large extent in the state. However, they asked the people of the state top stay aware of any scopes of spreading the disease including possible contagion from outside the state. 27 people have died from dengue infection in the last few weeks in West Bengal and over thousands are ill.

Rampant violation of MCI norms by TMC

Agartala, Sep 05, 2012 : In a brazen violation of norms set by Medical Council of India (MCI) the society-run Tripura Medical College (TMC) authority is arbitrarily forcing all students including those living within 1/2 kms of the college to stay in the bleak house called hostel, presumably to retain the economic viability of the hostel management. According to universally known norms of MCI, 25% of students in each year can be made 'Day Scholars'-that is , they can be allowed to attend classes from homes or rented houses outside the hostel or college campus. In previous years the TMC authority also allowed this in compliance with MCI norms. 

This year at the time of admission a number of students and guardians-well below the permissible ceiling of 25% -had applied for 'Day Scholar' status, citing very genuine and valid grounds . But in an arbitrary decision the TMC authority chose to ride roughshod over the genuine pleas made by the few students and guardians and issued a 'fatwa' that all students must stay in the hostel. That is in sharp contrast with current situation in AGMC where the authority this year has not imposed any decision mandating compulsory stay in the hostel for Agartala-based students. 

In a strange case two first year students who themselves have genuine health problems entailing restricted dieting and critically sick mothers at home had occupied the allotted rooms in the hostel but then stayed at home with permission from the Warden. Without checking with facts ,TMC's Quixotic acting principal T.N.Sharma turned the hapless first year students out of the class on Wednesday and threatened to impose a fine of Rs 500 each on them per day unless they commenced staying in the hostel, refusing to listen to pleas of the students that they had obtained permission from the Warden for staying outside. When the guardians of the students confronted Sharma with the issue and cited MCI norms and permission granted by the Warden the unbalanced Principal looked away while squirming on his chair. 

'What can I do , this is the order of higher authority ; let the students stay for 2/3 days and then reapply for exemption' said Sharma . The guardians and students did not ask how the 'higher authority' could poke their administrative nose into an essentially academic matter over the head of the principal. Sources in the TMC disclosed that T.N.Sharma 'is here basically to superintend the studies of his daughter, a second year student in the TMC, and least bothered about genuine problems and interests of the students'. 

Apart from this, the condition of the noisy hostels in TMC where students from first year up to Internees stay together is horrible. The quality of food and water is 'horrible', toilets and bathrooms are 'most unhygienic' and treatment meted out to freshers by the 'old babes' among internees is appalling. The TMC authority has so far suspended two internees , Aveek Debbarma and Narendra Kumar and a second year student Sayan Mazumder for ragging but minor troubles for freshers continues . Besides, most of the rooms in the hostels have one problem or the other like fans that do not move or lights that refuse to burn but the so-called ‘house keeping’ department of the TMC take their own sweet time to have these repaired , consigning the inmates to untold suffering in sweltering heat. 

Among the victims of ragging was fresher Shaukhin Chakraborty, nephew of health minister Tapan Chakraborty, who was confined in his room for eight hours and physically maltreated . Another fresher Aveek Saha from Calcutta was forced to drink liquor by an internee Atul Tiwary while two other students Dhrupad Das and S.Pandey were also subjected to maltreatment. 'The punishments have reduced the level of ragging but have done nothing to improve the condition of hostels ; freshers who try to study more are invariably disturbed by being asked to purchase and fetch cigarettes ; almost all the internees and a number of senior students consume liquor on a regular basis and often organise raucous cocktail parties , totally marring the atmosphere for studies of students' said a guardian on condition of anonymity. Sources in the TMC confirmed this and said 'there are a number of major scams involving huge amounts of money' , records of which on files would be gradually disclosed.

Tripura election likely in February

Agartala, Sep 05, 2012 : The election Commission of India (ECI) has begun process for conducting assembly elections in five states including Tripura, which are scheduled to be held by February, 2013 next.

Soon after the directive of ECI, the state election department of Tripura has already announced the schedule for the special revision of electoral rolls for the 60 assembly segments of the state.

As per the schedule, the draft electoral rolls will be published on October 1, 2012 including all voters under the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) scheme, while submission of claims and objections will be allowed till October 31. Claims and objections will be settled on December 1 and the final electoral rolls will be published on January 5, 2013.

Sources in the state election department said that the Assembly election will be held on the basis of the revised voters’ list. 

Sources added that as of now there is no indication of election being held in advance, but will take place on schedule- probably February, 2013. However, it is the Election Commission that will take the final decision.

Soon after the notification, all the SDMs and BDOs were asked to ensure proper arrangement for the revision of electoral rolls.

The ECI may conduct the assembly polls due in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh separately. After conducting the elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, Assembly polls will be held in the three Northeastern states, added sources.

OPTC ready for power generation from Palatana by September end

Agartala, Sep 05, 2012 : With the declaration of power generation from the first unit of 726 MW Palatana power plant by the end of September, the ONGC on Tuesday inaugurated the work station for ‘gas metering’ at Palatana.

ONGC’s director (onshore) A K Hajarika inaugurated gas metering complex and had paid courtesy visit to Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and PWD Minister Badal Choudhury at Civil Secretariat before leaving state on Wednesday.

Earlier, ONGC had conducted successful trial runs of the first unit of 363 MW capacities twice before its commercial production of power. The second unit (363 mw) will start generation by this year end or early next year.

ONGC said, already a 400-KV high transmission power line has been constructed up to Silchar in southern Assam from Palatana to connect with the Bongaigaon national grid in western Assam to transmit electricity to various Northeastern states.

The stage is set for generation and works are on in full swing to generate power by the end of this month, said ONGC Tripura Power Company Limited (OTPC) General Manager Mukul Banerjee. After the beginning of full fledged generation, Tripura would be a power surplus state and all the NE states would be supplied power from this plant, he said. The foundation of the plant was laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in October, 2005, but bringing the heavy machines to Tripura had been proved difficult. The problem was later solved when neighbouring Bangladesh allowed India to use its territory and waterways for transhipment of the equipments.

Tripura to kick off Ranji campaign against Assam

Agartala, Sep 04, 2012 : Tripura would start the next Ranji season with a four-day match against Assam in Guwahati from November 2 to 5, according to the official calendar of domestic cricket released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The team placed in group C with eight other teams for the league round would play against Andhra Pradesh in Anantapur from November 9 to 12, against Services Sports Control Board(SSCB) in Agartala from Nov 17 to 20, against Himachal Pradesh in Dharamshala from December 01 to 04, against Jharkhand in Agartala from December 08 to 11, against Kerala in Agartala from December 15 to 18, against Goa in Agartala from December 22 to 25 and against Jammu & Kashmir in Jammu from December 29 to January 01.

This year former Ranji cricketer of Delhi and batting coach of National Cricket Academy, Bangalore Krishnan Bhaskar Pillai is selected to coach Tripura state team while former Bengal spinner Utpal Chatterjee and former Tripura pacer Vineet Jain is given charge for bowling department. Former Karnataka Ranji cricketer Rajesh Kamath is looking the fielding department of the state team.

Last year Tripura lost to Andhra Pradesh, SSCB, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh and got zero from four matches. Altogether Tripura earned one point from five matches and that point came from the drawn match against Vidarbha.

Discoveries and dreams: Dr Arijit Das makes a new beginning

Agartala, Sep 02, 2012 : He is a man of science devoted to acquiring and disseminating knowledge of chemistry among his students but his stated conviction rattles people : Dr Arijit Das who has discovered completely new methods of calculating hybridisation and IUPC nomenclature is convinced that the methods had dawned on him in a dream. Currently head of the department, Chemistry, in Dharmanagar Government College in north Tripura, Dr Das had long been seized with the study of hybridisation and IUPC nomenclature to teach the students the complicated methods in an easy manner. Though a scientist in the state forensic science laboratory till early last year Dr Das had been teaching a large number of students.


'In those days I was thinking of only one thing, Hybridisation and IUPC nomenclature; you may find it strange but the truth is that one evening while dozing off on a chair in my drawing room I suddenly woke up to the new formula on hybridisation and noted it down immediately on my note-book; the crucial finding on IUPC formula similarly came in a dream one night' said an elated Dr Das . His new formula for determining the pace and quantum of hybridisation came out in a specialised article in the standard Indian journal 'Chemistry Today', published from Delhi by MTG Learning Media Programme (ISBN 2468) in May last year. The authority running the journal took one full year to ascertain the authenticity of the new formula on hybridisation as well as to wait for any contradiction that might have been raised. 'They have confirmed in a letter recently the correctness of my findings, similarly my new findings on IUPAC nomenclature of Bicyclo and Spiro Compounds was published in 'Chemistry Today' journal in its April 2012 issue after a whole year' said Dr Arijit Das.

A Phd in chemistry from Tripura (Central) university, Sr Arijit Das had also been a 'PMLP 1st fellow-2002-2004' in the university. Apart from this, Dr Das has been the prestigious '1st Reviewer' for two leading chemistry journals in the world, London-based 'Inorganic Chemistry Communication', published by ELACVIER and 'Journal of Co-ordination Chemistry', published by Taylor-Francis. His new discoveries have been appreciated also by professors of four leading universities, Burdwan and Calcutta universities in West Bengal, Tripura Central University and North Eastern Hill University (NEHU).Professors, Dr G.N.Mookherjee, Dr Arabinda Kr Das, Dr Ranendu Nath and Dr R.A.Lal of the four universities have all congratulated Dr Das and said that they will introduce the new methods of study in their universities. 'This is the real recognition I have got though I am applying for J.C.Bose science award for the year 2012-2013, it comprises a citation and a cash prize of Rs 20 thousand which I will donate to Ram Krishna Mission provided I actually win the prize' said Dr Arijit Das.

Born from the dead: Story of a bit of luck and a lot of goodwill

Agartala, Sep 02, 2012 : It was a sheer stroke of luck for Sanchita Sarkar and her unborn baby on Saturday; thanks to Chief Secretary Dr. Sanjay Kumar Panda, Director General of Police Sanjay Sinha, Sudhir Das, MLA of Surma assembly constituency and a chopper from the Tripura Road Transportation Corporation.

The chopper flew the expecting mother away from Gandacherra to Agartala right when all hopes seemed to be lost. Sanchita gave birth to a girl child shortly after her admittance to GBP Hospital in Agartala on the day. She was found to have been admitted at a local hospital of Gandacherra for the last several days amidst steadily degenerating health conditions. The doctors continued to delay the dates of delivery everyday and her condition was going worse, Sanjoy Sarkar, husband of Sanchita says. It was a call from Sailesh Das, a senior leader of ruling CPI (M) party at Gandacherra to MLA Sudhir Das which brought the entire matter to light.

Speaking to Tripurainfo.com on Sunday, MLA Das said that Sailesh Das called him up and asked for immediate air support for evacuation of the patient from Gandacherra to Agartala. Her condition has become too sensitive to be transported by road and her stay in Gandacherra is not safe anymore either, he said to the MLA. The latter made a call to TRTC authorities only to find that Chief Secretary Dr. SK Panda and DGP Sanjay Sinha had gone to Gandacherra itself on the chopper on the day for inaugurating a newly constructed building of Gandacherra police station. Call it luck or something else, the MLA called Chief Secretary Dr. Panda, he agreed to the plan of extending air support to the lady, the Sub-Divisional Medical Officer (SDMO) for medical fitness certification and in-flight attention and the entire crew flew for Agartala within half an hour or so.

An ambulance of TRTC collected the patient from Agartala airport soon after their arrival and rushed Sanchita to GBP Hospital. She was operated by doctors within some 90 minutes and a baby girl was born. According to latest reports, Sanchita and her baby are both healthy and thriving.

Expressing gladness at their deed, MLA Sudhir Das said on Sunday, “it simply is awesome that such a fast-track co-ordination could be accomplished and the job could be done. The happy father of the newborn came to me and thanked for the entire support. But I think Chief Secretary Dr. Panda and the DGP should be thanked. It was an awesome effort and a well accomplished one too”.

Reactionary forces conspiring to oust LF govt in Tripura

Agartala, Sep 02, 2012 : Often Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh says ‘Tripura is a well governed state’, but Congress in Tripura is disappointed over the PM’s statement on the ongoing development of the Tripura’, said CPI (M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri.

Speaking at the three-day seminar on P Sundarayya at Agartala Town Hall as part of his birth centenary celebration, Yechuri said, reactionary forces, aided by imperialists and capitalists are continue their conspiracy to oust the Left parties from power in next assembly polls, scheduled to be held in February next year.

‘Every supporters of the party should be very careful and conscious about conspiracy of reactionary forces’, said Yechuri. 

He claimed that the state would continue to be a red bastion in coming days.

‘They succeeded in their plan, ousted LF from West Bengal and Kerala, but poll debacle in these two states would not have any impact in Tripura’, Yechuri added.

“The result will be in favour of peace, development and stability in Tripura. ‘The Left Front will sweep the assembly polls in 2013 with comfortable margins”, he declared. Yechuri hoped that the party will also shine in West Bengal and Kerala in the coming days. 

Dilip Guha and collaborator Minati land finally in jail

Agartala, Sep 01, 2012 : After two years of prolonged trial, former Officer-in-Charge of Kamalpur police station, Dilip Guha was sentenced by a court of Khowai district to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in the sensational rape case of a minor girl.

Earlier, on Friday, the additional district and session judge Udit Chowdhury found Dilip Guha and his house maid Minati Das guilty.

After conducting a long hearing, Addl District and Session Judge Udit Chowdhury on Saturday pronounced the imprisonment of 10 plus two years to Dilip Guha and three plus two more years to house maid Minati Das under section 376/120 (b) IPC in presence of a huge crowd in the Khowai court.

Altogether 36 witnesses came forward with their statements and three investing officer– OC of Kalyanpur police station- Babul Das, Second SDPO-Teliamura-Abhijit Saptarshi and third investigating officer the then SP (West Tripura district) Anish Prasad investigated the whole case.

During the trial of the case, both the accused were kept under police custody and jail custody for 1 year 10 months and 4 days.

It may be recalled here that, a minor girl, forcefully handed over by Minati, was raped by the Inspector Dilip Guha in his official quarter, the then Officer in Charge (OC) of Kamalpur police station on October 26, 2010 last. After two days of the incident, case was registered against the then OC on October 28, 2010 by parents of the victim girl and on the same day the accused was arrested by Assam Rifles jawans. Later, he was handed over to authority of Kalyanpur police station. 

Subsequently, on November 4, 2010 co-accused Minati Das was arrested from Teliamura, after massive search operation.

RBI stresses on better customer services in NE region

Agartala, Aug 31, 2012 : All the Non-Banking Financial Corporation (NBFC), popularly known as chit fund companies working in Tripura do not have any ‘registration or affiliation from Reserve bank of India (RBI)”, said BB Sangma, RBI’s Ombudsman for Northeast region.

Speaking with media persons here at RBI branch office on Thursday, Sangma appreciated the role of the Tripura government for crackdown of unscrupulous functioning of NBFC.

‘The formation of a separate wing in CID by Tripura state government to tackle with forgery of NBFCs, is an instance in the country for its alertness and determination to save the money of people’, said Sangma.

He said, banks in the Northeast are not improving their banking and customer services.

In the Ombudsman wing, RBI receives numerous complaints every year. Tripura stands at second position with 48 complaints after Assam with 536 complaints”, he added. “We have asked the banks to improve their services and follow the rules based on the banking ombudsman scheme, which they have to do”, said Sangma 

The Banking Ombudsman Scheme has been introduced by Reserve Bank of India on June 14, 1995, to provide an expeditious and inexpensive forum to bank customers for resolution of their complaints relating to deficiency in banking services provided by commercial banks, regional rural banks and scheduled primary co-operative banks.

The Ombudsman stressed on more awareness among the customers and initiated massive awareness programme across the state to make the people aware about banking.

Sangma admitted that there are severe scarcities of small denomination currencies in Tripura market and assured that RBI would take in initiative to solve the problem. Among others, AK Pandey, General Manager of RBI Agartala and DGM Guwahati AK Kureel were also present.

YC election results declared, Sushanta Choudhury re-elected state president

Agartala, Aug 30, 2012 : Sushanta Choudhury was re-elected as president of Tripura Pradesh Youth Congress for the second consecutive term today. He was declared victorious with the largest share of votes after counting of second phase of Youth Congress organizational elections concluded this afternoon. Sushanta Choudhury bagged 3,457 votes while Sushanta Chakraborty, other favourite of the poll fray ended with 2,122 votes. Hollywood Chakma, other contestant of the polls landed with 219 votes in his bag, Pramod Reang had 135 votes, Rabindra Dutta had 124 votes, Joydami Tripura – the lone female member of Youth Congress who contested in last organizational elections bagged 112 votes while Sharmila Haldar had 65 votes.

While celebrations were seen in many parts of Agartala after the results came out, Barman faction inside the Congress party seemed a bit troubled throughout the day. Candidates put up by six anti-Barman Congress MLAs – Dilip Sarkar, Surajit Dutta, Subal Bhowmik, Manoj Kanti Deb, Gopal Roy and Birajit Sinha, were declared victorious in their respective block and assembly constituency seats. Meanwhile, candidate put up by MLA Ashish Kumar Saha, well known ally of the incumbent PCC president, suffered defeat in the organizational elections.

INPT likely to contest alone in 2013 assembly election

Agartala, Aug 30, 2012 : With less than six months left for the coming assembly elections, emergence of split seems to be only a matter of time within opposition alliance in Tripura. Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), prime ally of Congress in the state politics, is extremely discontented with progress in seat sharing discussion for contesting in the election, sources said inside the party. Speaking to Tripurainfo.com, INPT general secretary Jagdish Debbarma said on Thursday that dialogue for seat sharing is going on between INPT and Congress. The leader, however, visibly expressed dissatisfaction at the progress of dialogue saying that if the larger ally declines to allow reasonable seats to INPT for the elections, they would be left with no other option but to contest alone.

Four separate meetings on the issue between Congress and INPT have gone inconclusive till date with Congress firmly sticking to its stance of rejecting the seats demanded by its ally. INPT contested in 11 seats in 2008 assembly election and emerged victorious in only one. A large section of the Pradesh Congress leaders are averse to experimenting a faint chance of INPT-sentiment in majority of ST reserved seats, especially looking at their massive losses last season.

INPT general secretary Jagdish Debbarma, however, brushed aside the logic that if INPT can’t be considered for larger share of ST reserved seats due to defeat in 2008, so should be Congress. “Congress contested in nine ST reserved assembly constituency seats in 2008 and couldn’t bring even one victory. What should we think about that?” asked a defiant Jagdish. “We are still keeping trust in mutual cooperation and trust. Seat sharing discussion is still going on and there is room for consideration, we believe. It would be too premature to state anything specifically on contesting alone”, he added.

UBI fund embezzlement in Shantirbazar branch

Agartala, Aug 30, 2012 : In a massive embezzlement case, a branch manager of Shantirbazar branch of United Bank of India (UBI) was suspended and a specific case has also been launched against a employee of the branch.

Sources said, Rajendra Das, a temporary computer operator of UBI’s Shantirbazar branch had been assigned the task to maintain the daily operations of the funds for pensioners, wages of MGNREGA and old age pension since August 26, 2006 till date.

During the period, Rajendra Das managed to transfer the amount of Rs 3 lakh in the account of his father (Rabindra Das) , Rs 28.32 lakh into his mother’s (Manjurani Das)account, Rs 19.20 lakh into his brother-in-law ‘s(Litan das) account through the computerized system of UBI .

In May, 2012, when Rajendra tried to open a fixed deposit account at the Shantirbazar branch of UBI, entire embezzlement of fund was noticed by the officials of UBI branch. In the meantime, accused Rajendra managed to escape from the bank.

Soon after the incident, the top officials of UBI from Kolkata camped at Shantirbazar branch and during their investigation they recovered all transaction details of forgery of government funds.

On Wednesday, UBI filed a specific case against accused Rajendra Das and suspended branch manager Shankar Malakar on charges of dereliction of duty.

So far, main accused Rajendra Das has remained untraced.

Reshuffle in Tripura police, SP(South) transferred

Agartala, Aug 29, 2012 : In a minor reshuffle, eight senior police officers including IPS officers were transferred in various wings of Tripura police.

An official communiqué of police headquarters released on Wednesday said, IPS officer Gourab Chakraborty, incumbent SP of GRP, has been transferred and posted as AIGP (Personnel) in police headquarters and incumbent AIGP (personnel) Krishnendu Chakraborty transferred as principal of Police Training Academy at Narsingarh.

Arjun Debbarma (IPS), incumbent SP of South Tripura district, has been transferred as new commandant of TSR 7th battalion and present commandant of 7th battalion TSR, Shankar Debnath will now look after the charges of SP of South Tripura district.

TPS-Grade-I officer Bidhan Debbarma has been posted as new commandant of 13th battalion of TSR, Suresh Koloi will now look after the charges of 11th battalion of TSR.

Tapan Kumar Debnath, incumbent ASP of Police Control has been transferred as deputy commandant of TSR’s 12th battalion. Another TPS-Grade-I officer, Abhijit Choudhury has been transferred as Additional SP in police welfare wing at police headquarters.

CM calls for contribution to society

Agartala, Aug 29, 2012 : Tripura government will continue its agitation against the central government policies of foreign direct investment (FDI) in higher education and elimination of pass-fail system up to class eight standard”, said Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

School Education department organized a unique programme here at Sukanta Academy on Tuesday evening, where 85 persons were felicitated for helping poor and needy students in prosecuting their studies. Speaking at this programme, Chief Minister Sarkar said, Tripura government has always given emphasis on development of human resources of the state along with basic infrastructures for development of education and health services.

Expressing his satisfaction over the ongoing developmental process of the state government with limited resources, Sarkar appealed to all citizen of the state to cooperate in the developmental work of the state government.

‘Attending such unique programme is a totally different experience’, said Sarkar adding that when more and more people contributed towards society, true development would be achieved .He also appealed to the organizers to organize such programme annually to motivate people towards social welfare.

Persons, who contribute to expansion of education and provide financial assistance for building educational and other social infrastructures would also be felicitated in coming days, hoped Sarkar.

School Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty expressing his gratitude towards the 85 social activists, who had contributed for merit scholarship, said such initiatives are very important in our social systems.

Tripura regularizes over 1,700 DRW, contingent workers

Agartala, Aug 28, 2012 : The state cabinet on Wednesday approved regularization of 1753 DRW, contingent and casual workers serving under the Agriculture Department, Animal Resource Development Department, Forest department & Handloom, Handicrafts and Sericulture Department.



Briefing the cabinet decision to media at civil secretariat this afternoon, Finance Minister Badal Choudhury said that it was decided to regularize services of workers engaged before March 31, 2003 who have completed 10 years of service. A total of 1753 workers of such categories during the initiative would be regularized with an estimated annual additional financial involvement of Rs. 9.82 crores, the minister said. The regularization is likely to come into effect from September 01, 2012, he added.



The meeting of council of ministers held on Wednesday resolved that services of permanent labourers working in Agriculture, ARDD, Forest and Handloom, Handicrafts and Sericulture Department and DRW, contingent, casual workers, consolidated fixed pay or fixed pay workers of Public Sector Undertakings and other autonomous organizations including Agartala Municipal Corporation and Nagar Panchayats, consolidated fixed pay workers of government departments engaged up to March 31, 2003 on full time basis would be covered by the decision of regularization. Finance Minister Choudhury also said that fixed pay employees recruited against fixed pay posts created by keeping scale posts in abeyance of PSUs and other autonomous organizations would be provided regular pay scale on the next day of completion of five years of continuous service as per practice followed in government departments. All the benefited workers would serve in their previous workstations even after being regularized, said the minister.



The cabinet meeting also resolved today to fill up 76 vacant posts of Sub-Inspectors of state police, 147 Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) supervisors, 14 junior food store keepers while a post was created in the name and style of State Yoga Coordinator. The meeting also discussed on the revised employment policy in conformation to which Banasree Debnath, successful gymnast from the state, would be provided service under the state government. Banasree participated in 10 national meets and numerous state meets in gymnastics arena and won 14 gold medals, 8 silver medals and 3 bronze medals from different sports events.

CM stresses on development of sports infrastructure

Agartala, Aug 28, 2012 : With the principal initiatives for education, health and sports facilities for all, Tripura government is moving ahead to achieve the goal’, said Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

Addressing a felicitation programme for Sports awardees in national games here at Nazrul Kalakshetra on Monday, Sarkar said the human resource development of the country would not be possible till the development of education and health infrastructures of the country.

Congratulating all the medal winners of London-2012 Olympic andUnder-19 World Cup Cricket winner team, Sarkar said ‘it’s indeed a pleasant moment attending a prize giving ceremony for national awardees.

‘A country having a total population of 1.25 crore, got only six medals in Olympic without any gold medal, it is shameful for every citizen of the country’, said Sarkar.

The faulty sports policies of UPA government are responsible for backwardness in sports, said Sarkar adding that a transparent and fresh sport policy should be adopted for overall development of sports atmosphere of the country.

Altogether 233 national level awardees from Tripura have been felicitated with cash prize and Golden girl gymnast Dipa Karmakar has also been awarded with cash prize of Rs 15 lakh from DoNER Ministry of Union government.

20 thousand MT rice for Adhoc BPL consumers reaches state

Agartala, Aug 27, 2012 : Tripura has got 20 thousand 360 MT rice as additional allotment for over 1 lakh adhoc BPL consumers of the state, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Manik Dey said on Monday. Speaking to reporters at the civil secretariat this evening, the minister said that the state government recieved the rice meant for adhoc BPL consumers recently. He also said that concerned District Magistrates were asked to conduct a survey to figure out the exact number of such consumers.

“The survey was completed recently. We have found that 1 lakh 29 thousand 833 families are covered under the benefit sans Dhalai district”, he added. Over 9,000 families are already covered under the benefit in Dhalai district. All the beneficiaries who will be supported by the initiative would get 22 KG additional rice per month fromSeptember till March, 2012, the minister said. He also said that the state governemnt has written to the cenbtre seeking continuation of the benefit after March, 2013.

It has been learnt that 12,360 families would be benefited by the initiative in North Tripura district, 13123 families would be benefited in newly formed Unakoti district, 10998 families in Khowai district, 21636 families in Sepahijala district, 10,264 families in South Tripura district, 13754 families in Gomati district while 47698 APL families in West Tripura would be benefited as adhoc BPL.

Kalam remembers Tripura for his hut in the Mughal garden

Agartala, Aug 27, 2012 : A decade ago in the year 2002 the CPI (M) politburo had decided to put up late Laxmi Seghal as candidate for presidential poll against eminent scientist and ‘Bharat Ratna’ APJ Abdul Kalam , consensus candidate of then ruling NDA and opposition Congress. Reports-albeit unconfirmed-had trickled out in the aftermath of the presidential poll that the Tripura unit of the party had rooted for Kalam but accepted the party’s central wisdom like communist faithfuls. Absolutely nobody is available here to vouch for exactly what had transpired in the lead-up to the presidential poll of 2002. 

But president APJ Abdul Kalam in all his magnanimity had retained a soft corner for tiny Tripura in his noble heart. Within three months of assuming the presidency of the world's largest democracy the great man had visited Tripura and fascinated everyone by closely interacting with students in an auditorium, proclaiming a road-map for Tripura's development in a public meeting and offering sage counsel to the political leadership. His robust optimism and enervating positivism were contagious indeed. 

But more was to come soon as the unorthodox president set about renovating and refashioning the celebrated 'Mughal Garden' within the hallowed precincts of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. As he desired installing two huts in the garden skilful craftsmen from Tripura came to his mind. What followed this is recorded in Kalam's latest book 'Turning Points: a journey through challenges'.

How his idea of installing huts took shape is impeccably described by the president in his inimitable style : " I installed two huts in the garden, both designed in keeping with the environment and using natural materials. One was built by craftsmen from Tripura and was called the Thinking Hut. I took many of my close friends to this hut for discussions during weekends and one of my books 'Indomitable Spirit' , was mostly written in this hut". The identity of the craftsmen behind the second hut named 'Immortal Hut' is concealed but the two huts nestled in corners of the massive Mughal garden provided the quiet serenity Kalam required for reflection over critical issues as well as ideas of poetry. 'Whenever a complex national decision was to be made, these two huts were where I sat and thought. Of course the inspiration for many poems also came while I was there' Kalam says in his latest book.

Apart from the pithy reference to Tripura in his book, Kalam has allotted two of altogether twenty seven coloured pictures to states of northeast. One picture shows him giving away degrees to ritually attired Naga students in the Nagaland univesity while in the other he is interacting with female folk dancers of Arunachal Pradesh.

Tripura records Monsoon rainfall deficit

Agartala, Aug 27, 2012 : Tripura has recorded about 26 to 35 percent deficit rainfall in average all districts of the state barring only Unakoti district during the Monsoon season so far, which appears to be better among northeastern states. But unequal distribution of rain in different locations has affected crop production in the state. Mid-term monsoon review of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Tripura revealed that state had recorded till July total rainfall of 1047mm which is about 31 percent below the Long Period Average between 1971 and 2011.

A report on rainfall status in the state “Rain 2012-An overview in Tripura” by ICAR, Tripura said among the different districts, Dhalai is having about 50% deficit rain while Unakoti is normal. North Tripura district is having about 20% deficits, which is more or less normal. The rest of the state, West Tripura, Khowai and Sipahijala, Gomati and South Tripura district is having 26 to 35 percent deficit rain.

Referring to review, Joint Director ICAR Tripura Centre Dr M. Datta said that in absence of sufficient rain, extra heat exacerbates drying and that contributed to longer and more intense dry spell this year.

Mentioning the status of monsoon rain in Tripura, joint director Datta said, State normally receives about 1425mm rain during monsoon i.e. June to September which is about 60 percent of yearly rainfall. Out of total monsoon rain, about 60 percent rain occurred during first two month of monsoon i.e. June and July. In 2012, this rainfall is about 22 percent below the normal in first two months. Out of eight districts only three districts, North, Unakoti and South Tripura District recorded normal rainfall i.e. within the range of plus-minus 19 percent of normal rain. In all the other five districts the rain is in deficit.

In the absence of rain, extra heat exacerbates drying and can contribute to longer and more intense drought periods. Climate change in the region is found to be accelerated with large amount of carbon emission and deforestation in Northeast India, said Dr Datta , adding that variation of rainfall in small geographical area was found evident this year.

Meanwhile, ICAR Technical Officer (Agromet Advisory Service) Dhiman Das Choudhury said, a projection of rain fall in different stations considering the normal rain in first two months of the season indicates almost normal rain in every district of the state. Any little deviation will lead to deficit rain in many districts particularly in Gomati, Khowai, Dhalai and Sipahijala, which are considered intensive cropping zone of the district.

Das Choudhury said that the union agriculture secretary had expressed concern saying it would not be possible to achieve 257.44 million tons of food grains production this year. Weak rains that started in June will drive up food prices and erode spending power in a country where more than half the population relies on the rural economy.

He suggested that rainwater harvesting is increasingly being considered as a viable strategy for improving food production in rain fed agriculture, as in the state, the total deficit as recorded is around 32 percent and some of the districts are showing alarming deficit in summer rainfall.

Exhibition concludes on visit of first scribe from Tripura at Olympics

Agartala, Aug 27, 2012 : A three day exhibition on the visit of Saraju Chakraborty, renowned sports scribe of the state, at London Olympics- 2012 concluded on Sunday – 72 hours of excellence as many called it.

The exhibition started on Friday at Agartala Press Club with 53 photographs of his visit at London during the Olympics in July. Chakraborty reached London on July 23 and covered a wide array of events of the Olympics. He came back home on August 14. Saraju Chakraborty’s visit to the Olympics has been the first visit ever for any scribe from Tripura to represent in the world’s largest sports event.

Speaking to Tripurainfo.com on the last eve of his exhibition at Agartala Press Club, Chakraborty said, “Most of my photographs exhibited here are those which aren’t available anywhere in the news. It’s not about excellence or rarity but more about perception. Any professional photojournalist wouldn’t probably click the Tower Bridge of London or the Wimbledon Tennis Stadium for nothing. But for people who aspire to do something in media, the very sight of a live presence in front of the Lords or the Wimbledon might be breathtaking”, he said. “My photographs are a memoir of my visit from Tripura as the first scribe in the Olympics and not any testimony of photography. I am a scribe, not a photojournalist by the way”, quipped Chakraborty.

Eminent journalists and editors like Subal Kumar Dey, Sanit Debroy visited the exhibition on its debut day while Chief Minister Manik Sarkar paid a visit on the concluding eve. He had a stroll around the photographs in the exhibition and highly appreciated the endeavour. The visitor’s book of the exhibition has still got a comment – “I am highly impressed by visiting this exhibition” with Manik Sarkar signed below.

Congress spreading derogatory issues among religious minorities in Tripura, says CPI (M)

Agartala, Aug 26, 2012 : Accusing the opposition of spreading anti-CPI (M) propaganda among religious minorities of the state, CPI (M) state general secretary Bijan Dhar on Sunday said that the opposition has resorted to spread derogatory issues among the religious minorities. He expressed serious concern over the issue stating that a variety of problems might crop up from the issue which might as well disrupt the harmony of the state. The party leader has asked people of the state to stay aware about the turn of events. He also voiced concern about steadily rising activities of saffron fundamentalist groups under the name and style of Hindu Jagaran Mancha in Dharmanagar township in North Tripura district.

Accusing Congress of playing bankrupt politics, Bijan Dhar said that the opposition has flopped on each of the issues which they resorted to for election propaganda. “Congress tried to play politics in the veil of computer faculties movement, joint entrance result issue and alliance with banned insurgent groups of the state. Each of their designs flopped. People of the state have identified their real faces”, he said.

Speaking about the latest status of seat sharing discussion among the Left Front allies, Dhar said that nothing has been finalized yet. “CPI (M) is capable of contesting in the elections all alone. But discussion is still going on and nothing can be stated about the issue at this stage”, he said.

The party also announced a number of movement agendas on the day including protest movements against recently exposed coal scam. Local protest agendas would start across the state from September 03 and a central rally would be organized in Agartala on September 05. Mass sit-in-demonstrations would be held in front of all central government offices in the state on September 13 as a sign of protest on Food Security Day.

Computer teachers’ association suffers split, praise government

Agartala, Aug 26, 2012 : Amidst massive controversy and withdrew the mass hunger strike agitation following assurance of discussion from Principal Secretary Banamali Sinha on Saturday, the All Tripura School Computer Faculties Association (ATSCFA) has virtually split into two factions.

A section of computer faculties on Saturday evening addressing a press meet here at Agartala Press Club, gave full-scale praise to the state government for hiking their salary in the middle of financial constraint.

The divided section of ATSCFA strongly opposed the ‘fast unto death’ programme of faculties and called it a response to a particular political party to disturb the peace in the state.

Expressing their gratitude towards the state government for hiking of their remuneration by Rs. 2000, Debasish Das of ATSCFA said though the state is reeling under financial constrain the association will support the state government’s initiative for pressing demand for regularization of their services before the Central government.

Attacking at the leadership of Computer Faculties Association, he alleged, ‘they have been using the platform at the behest of opposition parties. The presence of leaders from particular political parties is of course against the spirit of our movement’.

Santanu Datta, Dhruba Datta, Subir Roy, another computer faculty said, ‘we will join work from Monday keeping in mind of the state government’s goodwill gesture as well as future of students’. 

Faculties added that among 763 working faculties in ICT @ School project across the state, about 600 faculties opposed the so called ‘fast unto death’ programme by a section of faculties.

They alleged that, ATSCFA’s president, secretary and a member of working committee are working under the behest of a particular political party of their personal interests.

Earlier, state government had assured them for all sorts of government assistance. A discussion between the faculties and government is scheduled to be held at 5 PM on August 27 next.

However, there are reports that the Tripura government could announce some more sops for computer teachers to defuse the anger.

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