Left Front team alleges food, work crisis in pockets of Tripura’s Dhalai district, asks govt to intervene

Former Chief Executive Member of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) Radhacharan Debbarma, former legislators Ratan Bhowmik, Sudhan Das, Dhalai district secretary Pankaj Chakraborty, Gandacherra sub-divisional committee secretary Dhananjoy Tripura and CPI(M) state leader Lalit Tripura joined the delegation.

“We visited a few places like Thalcherra village in Chhawmanu on June 7 where we interacted with people regarding their current situation. The people said that they are in a miserable condition as they have only 10-15 days of MGNREGA work since October last year. Some complained of not getting ration benefits. We also heard similar kinds of problems at villages like Rajdhar, Malidhar, Purba Malidhar and others,” said Radhacharan to the media at the CPM headquarters.

The allegations have been raised several times by Left Front leaders since the BJP-led government came to power in Tripura in 2018.

Recounting the recent journey in Dhalai, the former ADC Chief Executive Member (CEM) said it took them one-and-half hour to reach Thalcherra from Chhawmanu instead of the scheduled 30-35 minutes due to poor road conditions.

He added that they also faced problems while visiting Ganganagar, Chakma village committee due to poor road conditions.

“Neither the state government nor the ADC administration has taken any initiative. We want to bring these issues to the attention of the state government,” he said.

In reference to food and education, Das spoke about the crisis of teachers in junior or senior basic schools in the interior areas.

“Total 24 junior and senior basic schools were closed in Gandacherra (Dhalai district). It is an attempt by the state to reduce the penetration of education by speaking about a lesser number of students,” he said.

He also added that the midday meal, which was started during the Left Front regime, is on the verge of closure in the schools due to lack of teachers.

“The midday meal was started so that the children could get food and education. Now, with the present condition of the midday meal, their access to both study and food is closed. Water crisis is also an issue in preparing midday meals. Similar conditions are prevailing in the ICDS centres. The healthcare status is also not good due to the crisis of doctors,” said Das.

“We have seen almost the same picture in all the villages that we visited. We found that 50-60 persons from each village have gone to Bengaluru and Hyderabad in search of work while some have moved to Agartala,” former tourism minister Ratan Bhowmik said.