By IANS,
Agartala : At least 70 people, including 13 policemen, were injured here Sunday during a clash between the police and Congress workers who were protesting against the entrance test of a local medical college, police said.
At least 10 journalists and west Tripura district police chief Anis Prasad were also injured in the brickbatting and police baton charge.
“The trouble started when Congress agitators started throwing stones on the security personnel, forcing the police to lathicharge,” police spokesman Tushar Kanti Das told reporters.
The opposition Congress has demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.
“We would organise a demonstration here Monday to protest against the police attack on the people, who were peacefully demonstrating against the discriminatory policies in management of the two medical colleges,” opposition leader Ratan Lal Nath told reporters.
Various journalists’ organisations have condemned the police lathicharge on mediapersons.
“We have asked (state police chief) K. Saleem Ali to take action against the police officers responsible for the attack on reporters and photo-journalists,” protesting journalists’ spokesman Pranab Sarkar said.
The Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to MBBS and B.Sc nursing courses in the Tripura Medical College (TMC) was held Sunday at the Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) College here.
The Congress has been claiming that the Left Front government was adopting different policies for the state’s two medical colleges.
Tripura has two medical colleges with 100 seats each. One has been run by the state government and the other by a registered society, which is financially aided by the state government.
Of the 100 seats in the TMC, 55 seats are reserved for Tripura students, 30 seats for students of others states and 15 for the central pool.
“The Left Front government has been depriving the Tripura students, giving scope to the students of other states for admission to TMC,” Nath said.
However, the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has alleged that the Congress, with an eye on the state polls in 2013, is trying to create trouble to obtain political mileage.