Tripura asks Assam to ensure smooth traffic movement on NH 44

Agartala, Oct 14 (UNI) The Tripura government has asked its Assam counterpart to ensure smooth traffic movement on National Highway 44 during the festive season following blockade threat by the Barak Valley Tribal Rights Protection Forum (BVTRF).

Official sources said here today that the BVTRF had called an indefinite blockade on NH 44, which connects the southern part of Assam, Tripura and Mizoram with the rest of the country via Meghalaya, from tomorrow.

BVTRF sources told UNI over the phone from Silchar that they had called the blockade to protest the alleged highhandedness of the Forest department staff at Khasi colony of Badshahi Tilla near Patherkandi, close to the Tripura border.

The forum, an assembly of Khasi and other tribes of the Barak valley, also announced to participate in a relay sit-in on the highway at Malidhar hamlet on the Assam-Meghalaya border in Cachar district.

They demanded the removal of Karimganj Divisional Forest Officer Salman Uddin Choudhury for his alleged partisan attitude against the tribals.

However, police here said that the Cachar district administration had assured to take steps to keep the highway open and ensure uninterrupted traffic flow, adding that adequate security arrangements would be made along the entire stretch.

UNI