By IANS,
Agartala : The victorious Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) must initiate development and provide security in the northeast, the Communist Party of India (CPI-M) which is in power in Tripura said here Wednesday.
“We are hopeful that the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh would not deprive the northeastern region of developmental programmes and suitably utilise the region’s untapped resources,” Gautam Das, CPI-M spokesman in Tripura, told IANS. CPI-M leads the state ruling Left Front.
“Like before, the Left parties would initiate a bigger movement if the UPA government takes any steps detrimental to the interest of the seven northeastern states.”
In the just concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Congress has secured 13 of the total of 25 seats in the northeastern states while the CPI-M has won two.
“There is a friendly government in Bangladesh. The UPA government should further accelerate its initiative to fulfil the northeast’s long pending demands, including the transit issue,” the CPI-M leader said.
He said the centre should step up the works of five railway projects, which were declared by the prime minister as national projects in 2006 to expand the railway network in the landlocked region.
Black Widow rebels have attacked trains on a number of occasions during the past few weeks in southern Assam killing at least 20 people and injuring many and as a result, the Northeast Frontier Railway authorities have been occasionally suspending train services on Lumding-Badarpur section in southern Assam.
“Despite several requests and persuasion from Tripura, the Assam government (of the Congress) had not yet provided security for train movement and the centre remained a silent spectator,” Das added.
Tripura Chief Minister and CPI-M politburo member Manik Sarkar told journalists: “We would observe the functioning of the new UPA government and its attitude towards northeast India for the time being and then we would take our course of action.”