Agartala: Vehicular movement on the Assam-Agartala National Highway reportedly came to a sudden halt on late Sunday night, as a group of surrendered militants blocked the road at Baramura Hill Range in West Tripura.
According to reports, the Tripura Guerrilla Returned Demand Committee staged the blockade highlighting three key demands. The primary was the immediate restart of the long-stalled rehabilitation scheme worth Rs 23 crore.
As per a surrendered insurgent, the group consists of pre-1998 returnees who joined the mainstream following negotiations with the then Left Front government. He stated that Rs 45 crore was sanctioned on May 22, 2007 for settlement and rehabilitation. Though implementation was carried on until 2018, all activities came to a standstill after government changes and challenges posed By COVID-19.
“From 2008, meetings were held and the scheme was implemented until 2018. Since then, the government changed, COVID came, and all schemes stopped. So far, there has been no update,” a protester, identifying himself as a surrendered insurgent said.
According to reports, good-laden trucks were stranded for hours, demanding the state government to act on the long-pending commitments made to the former militants.
The group has demanded that the remaining Rs 22 crore be utilized to restart the stalled program. They also flagged problems with livelihood initiatives under the Chief Minister’s Rubber Mission. They claimed that though rubber saplings were distributed without issue for three years, the scheme was not implemented this year.
“They have given us rubber saplings but did not provide funds for fencing the saplings. We have asked the administration many times, but so far nothing has happened,” a protestor said.
They also claimed that they have been repeatedly attempting to engage in discussions with officials, but have not yielded in any results.
The protestors also raised the withdrawal of all pending cases against members who have returned to civilian life.