Agartala, Nov. 15: The crisis over the engineers’ fast-unto-death in Tripura has deepened with the state government refusing to relent to the strikers’ demands.
While 1,100 engineers, belonging to the Unemployed Degree and Diploma Engineers’ Association (UDDEA), stuck to their demand for direct recruitment on fixed pay as precondition for calling off their agitation, PWD minister Badal Chowdhury reiterated that the government would consider the engineers’ demands only after the fast was called off.
UDDEA convenor Kalyan Saha yesterday said guardians of the striking students had met the PWD minister and urged him to accept the demands of the engineers. Chowdhury, however, made it clear that there was no alternative to recruitment through the Tripura Public Service Commission (TPSC).
He also advised the guardians of the striking engineers to persuade their wards to appear for the TPSC examination for the recruitment of 600 engineers.
Saha said the TPSC should hold examinations only to regularise the services of engineers currently working on fixed pay in the various government departments.
He said the agitation would continue and several leaders and organisations had already supported their movement.
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister, Sudhir Ranjan Mazumder, and expelled CPM legislator and secretary-general of Tripura Employees’ Co-ordination Committee (TECC), Ajay Biswas, yesterday visited the agitation site in the R.M.S. Chowmuhuni area and spoke to the striking engineers. They also pledged support to the students’ agitation.
The condition of two unemployed engineers on fast-unto-death Dilip Das and Dhrubabrata Debnath has deteriorated sharply and the duo has been shifted to the G.B. Hospital.
Saha said a large number of policemen had yesterday tried to forcibly shift the ailing strikers to the hospital but did not succeed. Later, Rajesh Debbarma, a government doctor, examined the Debnath and Das and recommended immediate hospitalisation.
INPT hints at truce
Delegates of the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) have softened their stand over seat adjustments with the Congress in the coming state Assembly polls in July next year, reports our New Delhi correspondent
Of 60 seats, the INPT had clung on to their demand of all the 20 tribal seats in addition to the nine in the unreserved constituencies. Discussions with AICC general secretary Mani Shankar Aiyar at Agartala on November 2 and 3 remained inconclusive.
INPT president Bijoy Hrangkhawl said the issue of the reserved seats is not negotiable, but the demand for the general seats can be sorted out. “It must be ensured that whatever deal is signed must serve the purpose of both the parties,” he added.
Negotiations will begin tomorrow. PCC president Birajit Sinha, leader of the state Congress legislature party Jawhar Saha and AICC general secretary and Northeast observer Aiyar will take part in the talks.
The delegates admitted the possibility of reconsidering demanding all the tribal seats if the decision puts a spanner in the tie-up between the two parties. “This is a party decision, but we can refer it back for reappraisal,” said general secretary Rabindra Debbarma.
