Agartala/New Delhi, May 17 : Security has been tightened all over the state in view of Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s daylong visit tomorrow.
Home ministry joint secretary M. Sadakanta arrived here yesterday to supervise the security measures.
BSF jawans posted along the Indo-Bangla border have been put on high alert and trans-border movement of people even through chekcposts has been restricted.
Additional secretary in the state’s home department, J. Samanta, said Chidambaram would arrive at Agartala airport by a special BSF flight around 11.20am and head for Akhaura checkpost, to the west of Agartala, 13km from the airport.
“He will inaugurate Tripura’s biggest land custom station and integrated checkpost in a brief programme to be attended by chief minister Manik Sarkar and industry minister Jiten Chowdhury,” said Samanta.
The Rs 73.5-crore project will be open by July 2012.
An integrated checkpost is a land customs station along with immigration offices for passage to visitors on both sides.
The same initiative has been taken on the Pakistan border also.
At the end of the programme, the home minister will visit Congress Bhawan and hold a news conference.
Samanta said the Union home minister would hold a review meeting in the state’s Assam Rifles headquarters in Kunjaban.
“He will lunch at Raj Bhavan and hold a discussion with the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues,” Samanta said.
Chidambaram will leave Agartala on Wednesday morning. Samanta indicated that the home minister would take a decision on handing over of the Assam Rifles ground in the heart of Agartala town to the state government.
The Tripura PCC has prepared a detailed five-page memorandum to be submitted to the home minister.
PCC president Surajit Dutta said the memorandum would focus on the law and order situation, especially the high incidence of suicides and crimes against women.
“It is evident from National Crime Record Bureau report that in terms of crimes against women and suicide, Tripura is the worst state in the country. This happens because the police record the murders of Congressmen by CPM cadres as cases of suicide. The rate of conviction for crimes in Tripura is a paltry 16 per cent while the national average is more than 50 per cent. We will apprise the home minister of the situation,” said Dutta.
He added that the Congress memorandum would also demand the relocation of the fencing along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Aizawl visit
Major political parties and NGOs in Mizoram today drafted and signed a memorandum to be submitted to Chidambaram when he arrives in Aizawl on Wednesday.
Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or Mizo Students federation leader Lalmuanpuia Punte said the memorandum demanded that more than 80 Mizo families displaced from Tripura in 1998 after being threatened by Bru militants should be adequately rehabilitated by the Centre. Otherwise, the ongoing repatriation of Bru refugees from Tripura relief camps should be discontinued.
“We never asked the Centre to repatriate the displaced Mizos, but our repeated pleas for their rehabilitation fell on deaf ears,” he said.
Chidambaram will arrive at the Lengpui airport near Aizawl on Wednesday morning from where he would go to Suarhliap and Damdiai villages by helicopter to meet the Bru leaders and the repatriated refugees and return to Delhi on the same day, he said.