The Young Mizo Association (YMA) of the Jampui Hills in north Tripura district has given a call to boycott upcoming elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) to press its demand for construction of a road. The association is affiliated to the Mizo Convention, an apex body of around 18,000 Mizo residents of the hills bordering Mizoram.
The residents have been demanding completion of a pucca road between Jampui and Damcherra. The construction of road got under way three years ago, but did not progress much.
YMA leaders claim embezzlement of funds sanctioned by the Northeastern Council (NEC) for stoppage of the work. They claimed that the NEC had allocated ₹81 crore for the road construction work.
Officials of the State’s PWD wing in north Tripura district could not be contacted to verify the claim.
The YMA insisted that the construction of the pucca road between Jampui hills and Damcherra should be taken up immediately, else the residents of the Jampui hills will boycott elections to the TTAADC slated for April 6. It raised slogan ‘No Road, No vote’.
Meanwhile, four supporters of the TIPRA (Tipraha Indigenous People’s Regional Alliance) were injured in an alleged attack by IPFT workers at Anandapur in west Tripura on Tuesday.
