Agartala: The three opposition political parties of Tripura have demanded a high-level inquiry into the Kumarghat Rath Yatra tragedy that left as many as eight people dead and many injured.
Speaker of Tripura Legislative Assembly Biswabandhu Sen rejected the opposition’s proposal to discuss the topic of Kumarghat incident in the assembly, citing that the budget is the most important business before the house at this point of time.
An MLA from the opposition CPI(M) raised the issue at the end of question answer session and sought a clarification from the Speaker on what grounds his motion had been rejected.
In his response, Speaker Sen said, “Budget is the most important thing for this session as it has direct implications on the lives of people. Besides, I have no intention to muzzle the voice of the opposition bench because they will get ample time after the budget discussion to raise their concerns on the other issues and ventilate their views to the members of the treasury bench.”
Responding to the Speaker’s justification, Leader of the Opposition Animesh Debbarma said that the unprecedented incident shook the entire state.
“Never in my life have I witnessed such a devastating incident causing loss of lives on such a scale. The disturbing visuals of charred mortal remains left the whole state in mourning. An impartial investigation should be conducted in order to find out who is the person responsible for the tragic incident. The real offender, who changed the route of the chariot carrying the idols of lord Jagganath at the eleventh hour, should get the exemplary punishment,” said Debbarma.
CPI(M) legislature party chief Jitendra Choudhury also spoke on the occasion and demanded a statement from Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on the issue.
“The Chief Minister should assure this house that proper investigation would be carried out in connection with the incident and a sitting High Court judge would be entrusted with the responsibility to supervise the investigation,” said Choudhury.
From treasury bench Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath joined the discussion and urged the opposition party leaders to keep faith in the investigation that was ordered under the District Magistrate.
“If the Magisterial inquiry fails to answer the questions surrounding the incident, the government will certainly think about the next step. If the report is not satisfactory, the government will consider the demand for a judicial probe,” Nath told the House.
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All the opposition MLAs also urged the Speaker to withdraw the suspension of Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman, who is barred from entering the House for the whole budget session.
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath said, “The Chief Minister has listened to the appeal of the opposition bench and he will surely take a step.”
Also read | Tripura budget fails to address some key issues. Here’s why