Amid the questions over press freedom in India, nearly 6,000 copies of a local language newspaper ‘Pratibadi Kalam’, dispatched for three districts in Tripura, were allegedly destroyed and burnt by a group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters at Rajarbag bus stand on Saturday, November 7.

This came as a ‘protest’ against the newspaper’s editor writing about the alleged multi-crore agriculture scam of the Biplab Kumar Deb-led BJP government in the state.

According to the editor of Pratibadi Kalam, Anal Roy Chowdhury, the attack was due to the publication’s series of reportage on a ₹150 crore scam which mentioned prominent names, including the state’s Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department Director, Deba Prasad Sarkar, and the Agriculture Minister, Pranajit Singha Roy.

In the complaint with Superintendent of Police (Gomati), the editor stated that a group of about 30 people, led by Raju Majumdar, forcibly offloaded all the newspaper bundles en route to Gomati and South Tripura district at Rajarbag bus stand from a Sabroom bound passenger bus.

They burnt down the newspapers on Agartala – Sabroom national highway and abused the newspaper management for writing against the scam. They also allegedly threatened the newspaper authority of dire consequence unless they stopped writing on the issue.

Speaking exclusively to The Logical Indian, the publication’s Assignment Editor, Birat Roy Choudhury said that the incident, in around 6,000 copies of the newspaper were snatched from the vehicle and destroyed, took place after the daily exposed a multi-crore scam involving the agriculture department.

Detailing on the scam, he said, the audit report presented by the Principal Accountant General pertaining to a span of over six years pointed out financial irregularities in the books.

‘The state procures fertilizers and seeds worth crores every year, which is being undertaken by heads of four district offices. The irregularities were found in the procurements which follow DFPRT( Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, Tripura) procedures. A company named Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Ltd. had been involved in cash transactions with the department,’ said Choudhury.

He further added that even though the state had eight districts, only four district offices procured fertilizers and seeds.

‘The financial year 2016-17 reported urea-related procurement worth ₹ six crores from only the west district, whereas, during the same financial year, no orders were recorded in the north district office. Similarly, the FY 2018-19 recorded procurement of urea worth ₹1.5 crores from the west district, whereas no purchase had been done from the North district.

Several suppliers sold materials to the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department without challan, lot no., batch no., manufacturing date, expiry date, etc. The department officials received the supply orders having complete authorization of the director Debaprasad Sarkar.

There has been no official registry of these supply orders in the head office of the agriculture department. The irregularities continued without taking due regard for the conditions reflected in the supply orders,’ the Assignment Editor told The Logical Indian.

Choudhury also stated that a thorough inspection by the audit department and a few honest officers helped in tracing these financial irregularities.

‘The irregularities were not limited to seeds and fertilizers but also taking advantage of loopholes in travel allowances. Principal Accountant General has concluded the audit report after 25 days, after taking account of files from February 2014 to July 2020.

The modus operandi has been found after the said report mentioned procurement of seeds and fertilizers without adhering to norms from companies like states’ Aarohi Krishi Udyog, Pan Seed Pvt Ltd, Kolkata, Balaji Enterprise(state), Tripura Agrochemicals(state), National Seed Corporation Ltd,’ he added.

Briefing on the course of action being taken, Choudhury said that the audit committee will be presenting their report to the Tripura government withing three weeks and if, after investigation, the matter is found to be true it would come down heavily on the ministers who have been involved in the scam.

The Logical Indian reached out to Superintendent of Police, Gomati, Lucky Chauhan on Monday, November 9, to know if the miscreants involved in the destruction of the newspapers were identified and if were initiated against them.

The officer informed that seven persons were arrested regarding the incident, however, all of them were let out on bail in a period of 24 hours.

The Logical Indian also tried to reach out to the office of the Agriculture Minister, the Director of Agriculture and the Chief Minister’s Office on the contact numbers provided on the official government websites. However, no response was received from them.

Veteran journalist Jayanta Bhattacharya demanded strict action against the people who are responsible behind this attack and condemn…