Agartala (PTI): Altogether 12 Bangladesh nationals and one Indian facilitator have been arrested from two places in West Tripura district since Saturday, police said.

Seven Bangladesh nationals along with their Indian facilitator were arrested from the Bamutia area in the West Tripura district on Sunday, a police officer said.

Acting on a tip-off about the movement of a group of Bangladeshis in an autorickshaw a police team went to Berimura, a locality near the Indo-Bangladesh border, intercepted the vehicle and detained seven foreign nationals, the Officer in Charge (OC), Lefunga police station, Sahadeb Das told reporters.

They could not show valid documents for travelling to India, following which all seven were arrested for illegally entering foreign soil, he said.

"We also arrested one auto driver, identified as Jiban Baish, an Indian resident for helping the Bangladeshi nationals. A specific case has been lodged against all the arrested people," he said.

In another incident on Saturday, the BSF arrested five Bangladeshis from the Lankamura area on the outskirts of Agartala on Saturday.

"The BSF jawans while patrolling along the border spotted the movement of some suspicious persons and detained them for entering Indian territory without passports," the Officer in Charge (OC), West Agartala police station, Paritosh Das said on Sunday.

Later, all the Bangladeshi citizens were handed over to us. They were arrested for violating the Indian Passport Act, Das said.

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Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.

The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.

The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.

Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.

The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.

"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.

To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.

"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.

The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.

The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.

It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.