Congress to organise long march to border soon in Tripura's Unakoti over embankment issues

Agartala: The Congress will soon organise a long march to the international border area in Tripura's Unakoti district to press demand for repair of an existing embankment or build a new one to save Kailashahar town, a party MLA said on Wednesday.

During the winter session of the assembly, Congress MLA Birajit Sinha drew the attention of Chief Minister Manik Saha about Bangladesh building an embankment on their side near Tripura's Rangauti area.

"People of Kailashahar are concerned about the state government's dilly-dally attitude over Bangladesh's move to construct a high-rise embankment. If this is done, several areas of Kailashahar town will submerge during monsoon," Sinha said at a press conference.

He said the Unakoti district Congress committee would not sit idle, after witnessing an elevated embankment being built by the neighbouring country.

"To save Kailashahar town from impending flood, we will organise 'border abhijyan' (long march to border) on January 25, demanding immediate repair or construction of embankment in Kailasahar. Thousands of people are expected to join the movement," he said.

Sinha said the people want the state government and the Centre to take immediate steps to repair the existing 40-year-old embankment or construct a new one to save the town.

The chief minister, during his recent visit to Delhi, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and handed over a 'ground report' with satellite images on Bangladesh's move.

Earlier, Unakoti District Magistrate D K Chakma told reporters, "It appears that construction of a massive embankment was underway in Bangladesh and they have already raised the height of the embankment substantially to control flood water. Some portions of the structure have been constructed on the 'zero line' of the international border. This will create problems in passing floodwater to downstream areas (Bangladesh)."