SABROOM: A massive jail-bharo (fill-the-jails) movement swept through Sabroom in South Tripura on Monday, with 972 demonstrators arrested as CITU, AIKS, GMP and KMU jointly mobilised under the slogan “Desh Bachao–Manush Bachao” (Save the Country, Save the People).
The area witnessed heightened activity from the morning as part of the statewide programme. Demonstrators pressed an 11-point charter of demands, including repeal of the four labour codes, 200 days of MGNREGA work annually at Rs 600 daily wage, rollout of the TUEP scheme in urban areas, remunerative prices for farm produce, housing for the homeless, passage of the 125th Constitutional Amendment Bill granting greater powers to the ADC, withdrawal of hiked electricity tariffs, regularisation of irregular employees, effective measures against atrocities on women, and lower prices for petrol, diesel and cooking gas.
CPI(M) state leader Krishna Rakshit, Gana Mukti Parishad leader Prabhat Chowdhury, and CPI(M) sub-divisional secretary Arun Tripura led the march, which broke through two police barricades before being halted at the third.
Addressing the media later, Rakshit and Chowdhury said the agitation was a call to defend public rights and welfare.