Tripura troopers for security in Mizoram assembly polls 2013

Agartala, Oct 30: Elite

State Rifles (TSR) troopers will provide security during the Nov 25 assembly polls in

, officials said here Wednesday.

"Around 500 TSR troopers, led by Commandant Abhijit Chowdhury, would go to poll-bound Mizoram by mid of next month. Union home ministry asked the Tripura government to send five companies of TSR to Mizoram," a senior Tripura home department official told IANS.

He said the deployment of the TSR troopers in Mizoram would be at the discretion of the union home ministry and the Election Commission of India.

"Besides providing security during Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in 2010, the India Reserve (IR) battalions of TSR were earlier sent to Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to provide security during various elections in these states," the official said.

The TSR, trained for counter insurgency operations, was constituted in March 1984 to deal with terrorism in Tripura. Seventy-five percent of its troopers are from Tripura while the remaining are from across the country.

At present, there are 12 TSR battalions in the northeastern state, of which nine are India Reserve battalions, which means they can be deployed anywhere in India by the union home ministry.

"The TSR has been modelled on the pattern of Border Security Force and Assam Rifles. It has played an important role in curbing terrorism in Tripura," the official added.

IANS