Manik Sarkar points out faults in PM's address

The CPM politburo members also lashed out at the state government’s recent memorandum of sourcing manpower through private agencies, a move that the veteran leader described as the commencement of a war against the educated youth and job aspirants.

Agartala: Former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Friday sought to carry out a fact check on the Prime Minister’s speech delivered on the occasion of the BJP-IPFT government’s third anniversary and said that there were a number of misleading facts intentionally placed by the Prime Minister.

The CPM politburo members also lashed out at the state government’s recent memorandum of sourcing manpower through private agencies, a move that the veteran leader described as the commencement of a war against the educated youth and job aspirants.

Addressing a press conference at CPM state headquarters, he said, “On March 09, the Prime Minister said that Tripura was a power deficient state. He might have forgotten that he was the person who inaugurated the second unit of the Palatana power project. Since the time of the Left regime power trade with Bangladesh was started”.

Further criticizing the Prime Minister’s comment on the double engine growth of Tripura, he said, he had tried to give a positive tone to the achievements of the “double engine” government and claimed that the people of Tripura were witnessing the futilities of the present government. “I want to say, he was not wrong. People of Tripura had been forced to live in a situation that never ever prevailed here. The democratic rights were being trampled, people were spending nights half-fed, sometimes starving and incidents of child selling were being reported under this regime only”, Sarkar claimed.

The CPM leader, however, appreciated the role of Bangladesh for their consistent help to the people of Tripura and extended his greetings to Bangladesh Prime Minister reminding the media persons about his meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister for the Feni Maitri Setu and Bangladesh’s support for transportation of heavy materials meant for the Palatana power project.

On the outsourcing issue, Sarkar said, according to a memorandum issued by the department of manpower planning, five agencies have been empanelled to source manpower for various departments.

“As per the memo, the aspirants who are going to be recruited through these agencies are supposed to get a basic pay of Rs 7,200 to Rs 17,200 whereas as per the government pay rules, these employees are entitled to get Rs 16,000 to Rs 37,000 per month. The memorandum has cleared the intention of the government and as it seems, the present government has announced a war against the educated youth and job seekers”, Manik observed.

Sarkar also termed the “double engine” as the “trouble engine” and accused Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb of maintaining a conspicuous silence on the issues pertaining to relentless attacks on the opposition party leaders.

“Time and again, leaders of the CPM party come under attack, but the Chief Minister never ever utters a single word condemning the incidents. His silence is waging courage for the miscreants who are now set free to do whatever they want. But, this can not be continued”, said Sarkar.