Tripura to demolish hundreds of illegal party offices

A correspondent

Agartala, May 3:  Tension is brewing in Tripura over the State government’s move to demolish all the offices of the political parties that was build on illegally occupied government lands. The demolition move will begin from May 7.

It is presumed that the number of such offices may cross hundred. All the district administrations have already started fixing deadline and issuing notices in order to remove the structure within stipulated time.

The decision to demolish all the illegally- built party offices was taken recently during  a Cabinet meeting  which was presided over by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.

The decision was taken to restore all illegally occupied government land. Some of theillegal structures have been built beside the road, causing traffic problem.

The biggest victim of the move will be the former ruling party CPI (M), who during their last twenty-five years rule, had constructed hundreds of party offices across the State and many of them on government land.

The second victim will be the present ruling party, the BJP, who also constructed several offices on government land. Sources in the district offices said some Congress offices are also in the list.

Gautam Das, a central committee member of the CPI(M), said: “We’ve not yet received any list of illegal offices. So we don’t want to make any comment at this stage on the issue.”

However, former MLA and Pradesh Congress vice president Gopal Roy called the move a ‘political vendetta’. He said most of these offices are in existence for many years and the move to demolish them is illogical.

West Tripura district magistrate Milind Ramtake in a press conference said they have identified 76 party offices that was built illegally.

Similarly, South Tripura district magistrate Chandra Kumar Jamatia said they have identified 111 illegally built party offices.