AGARTALA: Ten people, who were part of a protest to demand the Tripura government fast-track the process to recruit teachers, were detained after the police baton charged the protesters to disperse them, police said.
Police said the protesters gathered outside Tripura education minister Ratan Lal Nath’s residence on Monday and refused to disperse even after the minister met them. The candidates said 40 of the 300-odd people who were part of the protest received injuries in the baton charge. The protesters said they cleared the selection test for graduate teachers (STGT) conducted for recruitment but were suffering because the government wasn’t processing their appointment.
The candidates claimed that the state has appointed only 616 teachers between 2019 and 2022 though 8,000-10,000 teachers of the secondary education unit retired in the last few years.
“The minister agreed to our plea but said that the finance department hadn’t approved the file of our recruitment due to a shortage of funds. We went to meet the minister but the police beat us badly leaving more than 40 of us injured,” said one of them.
Police said the protesters didn’t leave them with an option when they refused to end their protest even after meeting the minister and blocked a road near the minister’s residence.
{{/usCountry}}Police said the protesters didn’t leave them with an option when they refused to end their protest even after meeting the minister and blocked a road near the minister’s residence.
{{/usCountry}}“Mild force was used to disperse them. Nearly 10 persons of them were detained,” said Sadar sub divisional police officer Ajay Kumar Das. He denied allegations that the police also assaulted a protester who was pregnant.
The Left Front Tripura committee condemned the incident and alleged that the incident was instigated by the minister.
“The barbaric assault on the teachers was done at the instruction of the education minister. Many including a pregnant job aspirant were injured in the incident,” a statement issued by the Left Front said.
BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said, “The file is yet to be cleared by the finance department. The government is taking every possible step. Moreover, all of the agitators were not STGT-selected candidates”.