Tripura chief secretary writes to West Bengal counterpart over 'lack of security planning' for CM Biplab Deb's visit

Expressing dismay over the lack of arrangements ahead of Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb's scheduled visit to West Bengal, Tripura chief secretary LK Gupta wrote a letter to his West Bengal counterpart Malay De, demanding an inquiry and appropriate action against the "erring officials"Deb was scheduled to attend the Bharatiya Janata Party`s (BJP) rath yatra in Cooch Behar last week.

The Tripura chief secretary underlined, "I am enclosing here a copy of report received from the DGP, Tripura regarding non-cooperative attitude of the District Police of Cooch Behar (West Bengal) during visit of an officer of Tripura Police for ASL in connection with the visit of Hon'ble Chief Minister, Tripura to the District."

Narrating the whole incident, Gupta said, "lt may be seen that Hon'ble Chief Minister, Tripura, who is a Z+ category security protectee, was scheduled to visit Cooch Behar on 07.12.2018 and our officer had gone there for ASL in connection with this visit of Hon`ble Chief Minister, Tripura. However, as reported, the District Police of Cooch Behar neither made arrangements for his accommodation and transport, nor shared the security arrangements made/ planned for the Hon`ble Chief Minister, Tripura. You will appreciate that this is an extremely serious matter."

Gupta also attached a letter from the Tripura Director General of Police (DGP), AK Shukla, along with the complaint that had its subject, "Non-cooperative attitude of district police of Cooch Behar district (Bengal) during the visit of an officer of Tripura police for ASL in connection with visit of Hon`ble chief minister of Tripura to the district".

"The matter being related to security of the Hon`ble chlef Minister of Tripura, non-cooperation for conducting ASL by the WB police and not sharing the security arrangement made planned with the officer of Tripura Police is a serious matter and needs to be taken-up strongly with the West Bengal government," he added.

The Rath Yatra was postponed due to judicial intervention and hence the Tripura Chief Minister did not go to West Bengal in the end. However, given that the CM is a Z+ protectee, arrangements for his security and accommodation had to be made 24 hours before the visit.

The BJP had planned to hold three Rath Yatras beginning with Cooch Behar district on December 7, Kakdwip in the South 24 Parganas district on December 9 and Tarapith in Birbhum district on December 14. The Yatra was to be flagged off by party president Amit Shah from Cooch Behar.