Agartala: At least 250 families are taking shelter in police camps across Kanchanpur sub-division of Tripura following clashes that erupted on December 10 between communities after the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 was tabled in Rajya Sabha.
Although normalcy has returned in the state, the families are afraid and do not want to return to their homes. They fear a repeat of what had happened to them.
Speaking to reporters, Sub-divisional Magistrate, Abhedananda Baidya said, “The number of people taking shelter has increased on Saturday. About 250 families have taken shelter in 4 camps set up in the schools and police station.”
Earlier on December 10, angry mobs protesting against the CAB had vandalised shops and houses of people, following which the police had to fire 18 rounds of tear gas shells and 10 rounds of blank fire to disperse the mob and bring situation under control.
“Since the incident took place, around 95 family members has taken shelter in the police stations out of fear. The situation is peaceful and we are taking steps to send them back to their homes with security cover”, said Sub-divisional police officer, Bikramjit Shukla Das.
Enough number of security forces across the Kanchanpur sub-division have been deployed to instill confidence among the public and maintain law and order. No untoward incidents have been reported in the last two days. Das added.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Directorate of Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr Debasish Basu said that the date of the Under 17 National School football tournament for boys has been deferred due to the unrest in Assam and in Tripura. The event was supposed to begin from December 18.
“The situation of Tripura and Assam is not good. So, we have deferred the tournament until further decision and till normalcy returns across the region. A total of 33 teams have registered for the tournament so far from across the country and over 700 players were supposed to reach Agartala”, Basu said.
The trains coming from Assam too has been cancelled.