An administrative official was assaulted by miscreants in South Tripura on Wednesday when he went to hold an important camp relating to Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) beneficiaries.
Eyewitnesses and sources in the civil services said South Tripura districts’s Poangbari BDO, Vaijayanta Sarkar was brutally manhandled by a group of BJP supporters as he declined to meet their demand.
The incident triggered huge condemnation from all walks of life and TCS officers strongly reacted at the incident demanding exemplary punishment for the assailants.
The miscreants, allegedly belonging to the ruling party, assaulted the BDO as he refused to entertain any inclusion or omission of the name of beneficiaries of Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) as demanded by the BJP controlled Panchayat members. The list of beneficiaries of PMAY was prepared as per the Socio-Economic Survey 2011.
The incident took place at Madhab Nagar Primary School ground today afternoon. BDO, Vaijayanta Sarkar along with Er Juel Chakma, two GRS workers – Sankar Tripura and Chabi Tripura – and accompanied by Police personnel went to the school to attend a Gram Sabha to verify the list of PMAY beneficiaries.
The BDO in his complaint said, Madhabnagar GP was generated 320 priority list out of which 170 were still pending for registration. As per the District Magistrate’s instruction a special camp was organised for speedy collection of pending documents for registration in Madhabnagar GP.
It was in this camp the attack was committed.
Local sources said, BJP supporters led by the Gram Pradhan of Madhab Nagar GP created pressure on Sarkar to change the list. Sarker tried to reason with Gram Pradhan and his associates. According to Sarkar, altering the list would not be possible because the list was centrally prepared based on the Socio-economic census-2011. Moreover, the Central government forwarded the list to the State Government for implementation and a BDO cannot change the list.
However, Gram Pradhan and others were reluctant to follow the guidelines and remained defiant to drop the names of some beneficiaries. Soon an altercation ensued.
Meanwhile, a group , allegedly ruling party supportersm, started assaulting the BDO. As Engineer Chakma and the two GRS workers tried to rescue the BDO, they were also assaulted.
The miscreants also snatched away the Police batons, mobile phones of the BDO and damaged mobile phones of other staff.
Later, SDM Debraj Debbarma and SDPO Lalhim Malsom along with the Police force rescued the injured BDO and other staff. A complaint was lodged with Manu Bazar Police station to this end.
Meanwhile, the attack on the BDO drew condemnation from different sections of the society, especially the TCS Officers Sangha vehemently condemned the incident.
Reacting to the attack on the BDO and other staff, secretary of the TCS Officers’ Sangha, SDM (Sadar) Asim Saha strongly condemned the incident and termed the assault as ‘undesirable’ and ‘unexpected’.
Meanwhile, other TCS Officers of the District hurriedly met the DM of South at Belonia and demanded a high-level inquiry as well as exemplary punitive actions against the attackers.
Venting serious resentment, TCS officers said it would be difficult to implement government schemes if such unwanted things happen
(Illustration taken from Bar and Bench. Internet)
