130 villagers are voters in both Tripura & Mizoram; probe ordered

An official of North Tripura district said that the names of these 130 Phuldungsei residents were recently registered in the electoral rolls ahead of Mizoram's August 27 village councils polls. These people were however enrolled as voters in Tripura for many years, he claimed.

Tripura's Revenue and Fisheries Minister Narendra Chandra Debbarma told IANS that he had asked Revenue and Finance Secretary Tanushree Debbarma to inquire into the matter and submit a report at the earliest.

Different tribal parties are already agitated over the matter and urged the central and state governments to resolve it at the earliest.

Tripura's erstwhile royal family's scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarman, a former President of Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee, told the media on Friday that he had conveyed to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb to deal firmly with the matter.

"Tripura's territories are being taken away by a neighbouring state (Mizoram). It cannot be accepted," said Debbarman, who quit the Congress last year and formed a regional party.

Tripura shares a 109-km border with Mizoram and many villages, mostly dominated by the tribals, exist along its inter-state borders.

North Tripura District Magistrate Raval H Kumar told IANS that he would not be able to comment on the matter as he is in home quarantine after one of his family members tested coronavirus positive.

Kanchanpur Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Chandni Chandran said the state government ought to take a decision before she can act on the matter.

She wrote a letter to the DM that "Phuldungsei village as a whole, despite its eastern side falling in Mizoram, had been accepted as part of Tripura territory", emphasising the urgent need to demarcate the exact boundary between Mizoram and Tripura and incorporating the whole of Phuldungsei village in Tripura. (IANS)

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