BJP names Papiya Datta for Agartala Assembly seat in Tripura

AGARTALA,

Jan 29

(PTI): The ruling BJP in Tripura on Sunday announced the name of Papiya Datta, state general secretary of the saffron party, as its nominee for the prestigious Agartala Assembly, a senior leader said.

at the party headquarters.

“I am confident that we will win the election to the Agartala Assembly constituency with the blessings of electors’ ‘, Datta, who will be trying her luck in the electoral race for the first time, said.

ITANAGAR, JAN 29

(PTI): A flock of magnificent mandarin ducks were again sighted at the famed Siikhey Lake in Ziro, the headquarters town of Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The information was shared during the monthly Ziro Bird Walk, organized by Arunachal Pradesh Birding Club Ziro on Saturday, a district official said.

The meeting was attended by Lower Subansiri Deputy Commissioner Bamin Nime along with other avid bird watchers from Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) led by professor Daniel Mize, members from Wild Life Conservation Society Bangalore, Ziro Birding Club and Ngunu Ziro.

The avian species were sighted in the lake on January 25, District Information and Public Relations Officer (DIPRO) Gyati Kacho informed.

Mandarin Ducks were first recorded during Ziro

Bird Walk in February 2021 while the second was recorded in March last year.

Unlike the previous single visitor, this year three mandarin ducks comprising two females and one male visited Ziro valley.

According to avid bird watcher and renowned tour operator Koj Mama, the factor could be because of the Air Gun Surrender Abhiyan launched by the state government a few years back.

Mama further informed that with the launching of Ziro Bird Walk in 2019 by involving community participation to protect birds and restrict hunting activities, the number of migratory birds visiting the valley has increased many folds.

The Ziro Bird Walk is organized every month at Ziro Valley.

The mandarin ducks were first reported from Maguri beel in Assam and Dirang in West Kameng district of the state.

The arrested village chief was identified as Paojahen Singson @ Hena (46) son of (late) Setkholien Singson. He is the chief of Nungthut village of Noney district. His arrest came after a large poppy field was found in the hill range within his village jurisdiction and was destroyed on Saturday. He

Carla R Sangma (Rajabala), he said.

The party on January 25 had announced the names of 55 candidates for the 60 member state Assembly.

Pala’s name was in the first list and he will be contesting the assembly election from the SutngaSaipung constituency in East Jaintia Hills district.

Election to the Meghalaya Assembly is scheduled to be held on February 27 and the last date for filing nominations is February 7. The counting of votes will be held on March 2.

With this, the BJP has announced candidates for all the 55 constituencies it will contest in the February 16 Assembly elections.

There are a total 60 Assembly seats in Tripura.

A prominent leader of BJP’s Mohila Morcha, Datta is set to take on heavyweight candidate of the Congress and sitting MLA Sudip Roy Barman from Agartala constituency.

“The party has declared Papiya Datta as its candidate for Agartala constituency completing the process for nomination. Tomorrow, the party candidates accompanied by the senior party leaders will submit their nomination papers”, party vice president Rebati Tripura said.

The Agartala constituency is being currently held by the sole Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman, who won the seat in a bypoll a few months after quitting the saffron party.

“My nomination for the Agartala constituency is symbolic because all BJP workers will work relentlessly to ensure the victory of the saffron party.

I sincerely thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party national president JP Nadda and state leaders for reposing faith in me”, Datta told newspersons

The saffron party has given five seats to its allyIndigenous People’s Party (IPFT) as part of its seatsharing deal.

The IPFT has also announced candidates for the five Assembly constituencies, a senior party leader said on Sunday.

Out of four sitting MLAs, only two legislators- Prem Kumar Reang, the party president and Prasanta Debbarma were given tickets for the second time while the party has fielded three new nominees for the upcoming elections.

The last date for making nominations will be on Monday while scrutiny will be done on January 31 and February 2 will be the last date of withdrawal of nominations.

Assam shifts 68 foreigners to new transit camp

GOALPARA (ASSAM), JAN 29 (PTI): After a long wait, Assam government has begun the process of shifting doubtful and declared foreigners into the newly built dedicated detention centre, now renamed as transit camp, in Goalpara district, a senior official said on Sunday.

The government has constructed the first dedicated centre at Matia in Goalpara district to put the suspected and declared foreigners found in Assam. It has a capacity to house 3,000 inmates, including 400 females.

“The first batch of 68 inmates were moved to the transit camp on Friday from Goalpara District Jail. They include 45 men, 21 women, one girl and one boy,” said Sashi Kumar Deka, Superintendent (In-Charge) of the Transit Camp.

Prior to this new facility, Assam had six transit camps, which were created by making a part of the existing jails at Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Jorhat, Silchar,

Dibrugarh and Tezpur. “All these 68 inmates were shifted from the Goalpara jail transit camp. These were all declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunal (FT) in cases of ‘D’ (Dubious or Doubtful) voters,” Deka said. A senior official at Assam Prison Headquarters told PTI that with shifting of these inmates to the new centre, the Goalpara District Jail will no longer house any person related to foreigners cases. “A case on deten - the combined team in the destruction drive. tion centres is going on at Gauhati High Court. We will shift the other inmates lodged in the remaining five centres as per the court order and instructions from the state government,” she added. Around 220 suspected and declared foreigners, including the 68 inmates in the new transit camp, are lodged at various centres, the official said. The Goalpara transit camp has been built on 22 bighas of land (over 7 acres) in West Matia at an expenditure of Rs 46 crore.

The destroyed poppy plants would be worth over Rs 10 lakhs, a release of the Inspector General of Assam Rifles (East) claimed on Saturday. After registering a case under the relevant sections of the ND&PS Act, a team of Nungba police station arrested the village chief, the source said.