Blockade over Kokborok script issue disrupts rail, vehicular movement in Tripura

Agartala: Train services and vehicular movement were severely impacted in tribal belts of Tripura, as the “indefinite” rail-road blockade over the Kokborok script issue by students’ bodies began on Monday.

The Tripura Central University has also suspended all undergraduate and postgraduate examinations scheduled for Monday and onwards, officials said.

“Movement on rail tracks, national highways and state highways in tribal regions remained suspended since morning, due to the blockades put up at several locations,” a senior police officer said.

“Blockades were erected at many places in West Tripura district. However, normal life was largely unaffected in Agartala Municipal Corporation areas (AMC),” District Magistrate (West Tripura), Visha Kumar, told PTI.

The Tipra Indigenous Students' Federation (TISF) and the Twipra Students’ Federation had announced the blockade, demanding that students be allowed to write Kokborok language papers in the Roman script in board examinations.

Kokborok, an indigenous language spoken by nearly 24 per cent people of the northeastern state, does not have a script. Students generally write papers for the language in the Bengali script.

Talks have been initiated with the students’ bodies and “people are likely to get relief by evening”, Kumar said.