IPFT supporters block national highway and railway tracks in Assam, demand separate state for tribals

Agartala: The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) leaders and supporters today blocked the Assam-Agartala national highway (NH) and railway tracks at Khamthingbari in West Tripura district, to demand for a separate state for the tribal people. [caption id=“attachment_3796651” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] However, there was no report of any untoward incident, police said. The superintendent of police (SP) of West district said “The situation is peaceful along the national highway”. The INPT (Indigenous Nationalist People of Tripura) is demanding that a separate state be carved out for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) areas, which constitutes two third of the state territory and is the home to the tribals, who form one third of the population. As the IPFT supporters blocked the national highway and railway track at Khamthingbari in West Tripura district the road traffic has been diverted to Agartala-Khowai-Teliamura due to the blockade. The blockade affected train services. A large number of security personnel have been deployed in and around Khamthingbari. NC Debbarma, the self-styled president of IPFT said “We are hopeful there will be no untoward incident during the blockade programme. I had a meeting with top officials of police and discussed the issue. We are in favour of peaceful observance of blockade programme”, he told reporters at Khamthingbari.