CPI(M) lodges police complaint against BJP for laying foundation stone for Ram temple in Tripura
Agartala, Oct 21: The opposition CPI(M) in Tripura has lodged a complaint against the ruling BJP and the Sanatan Sena for laying the foundation stone for a Ram temple on a plot of land in a tribal area of South Tripura district, where a plaque was put up by the Left party a year ago, police said Sunday.
Confirming the receipt of the complaint, South Tripura Superintendent of Police (SP) Jal Singh Meena said the foundation stone for the temple was laid at Matai, a tribal hamlet, on October 5 and the complaint was lodged on October 15.
The case was being investigated, he said, adding that no one was arrested in connection with the incident.
CPI(M) South Tripura district committee secretary Tapas Datta said the plaque was put up in 2017, when the party was in power in the state, in the memory of Mohini Tripura, who tried to stop jhum cultivation on forest land and was martyred in the 1967 movement against the then Congress government.
Jhum cultivation, which is slash and burn agriculture, is the process of growing crops by first clearing the land of trees and vegetation and then burning them.
Datta said the plaque was put up on a private land and was uprooted by the Sanatan Sena, a right-wing organisation, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists.
"This is an attempt to erase the history of Tripura's Left movement," he added.
Meena said the owner might have agreed to donate the land to the Left party for putting up the plaque earlier, but might have changed his mind later and decided to donate the land for the Ram temple.
State BJP vice-president Subal Bhowmik said Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists had forcibly occupied the land of a local person to build their memorial.
"They (CPI-M) were autocratic and the common people had no voice in the Left regime. This land was grabbed by CPI-M activists when they were in power. The owner of the land was on the dais when we laid the foundation stone for the Ram temple at Matai," he added.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
