West Tripura DM assures support for students returning from Bangladesh amid protests

AGARTALA: Dr. Vishal Kumar, District Magistrate of West Tripura on Saturday spoke about the students coming to India amid protests in Bangladesh against job reservation and emphasized that authorities are committed to providing the necessary support to them. Speaking with ANI, Kumar said, "The anti-reservation protest which has been going on in Bangladesh has affected everything. All the students and residents are affected by this. For this reason, many people are entering Tripura, especially students pursuing MBBS and people of other occupations are heading towards Tripura."

He further stated that there are two checkpoints-Akhaura and Srimantpur, where children belonging to other parts of the country, have reached. "Till now, 46 students have arrived through the Akhaura check post and 80 people have entered through the Shrimantpur check post. We are expecting more than 100 people to enter Tripura in the coming hours."

Kumar further informed that they are in contact with the External Affairs Ministry and Assistant High Commissioner in Bangladesh too. "In coordination with the BSF and the central government, we are trying to give every necessary support to those who entered Tripura. Transportation by train or aeroplane is made available for them in cooperation with the Transport Department. For people of nearby states like Manipur and Assam, we have arranged bus facilities, and for those of other states, we are in contact with the government authority to make safe passages."

Notably, the protests in Bangladesh have been driven by demands for reform of the country's quota system for civil service jobs, which reserves positions for specific groups, including descendants of those who participated in the 1971 War of Independence against Pakistan.

The protests started after students violently reacted against a new policy to reserve a portion of government jobs for descendants of the nation's freedom fighters.

Protesters attacked the state television headquarters in Dhaka and set fire to police booths on Thursday as they called for a "complete shutdown" of the country.

Following the curfew, the authorities have also shut down schools and universities indefinitely, and mobile and internet services have been disabled nationwide, as reported by The Washington Post.

Earlier on Friday, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka issued an urgent advisory for Indian citizens and students in Bangladesh to avoid non-essential travel and minimize movement outside their residences due to the escalating unrest in the country.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in its weekly briefing, said that all Indian nationals in Bangladesh are safe and New Delhi is in touch with officials there while closely monitoring the situation, said in the wake of ongoing violent protests" in the neighbouring country.

"As you are aware, there are protests" which are happening in Bangladesh. We have around 8,500 students and somewhere around 15,000 Indian nationals resident in the country," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. (ANI)

Also Read: Tripura district limping back to normal after violence (sentinelassam.com)

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