The Tripura government has appointed administrators to run twenty civic bodies in the state despite objections by different political parties.
The tenure of most of these civic bodies comprising of six nagar panchayats, 13 municipal councils and one municipal corporation, is scheduled to end within the next three days.
The state urban development department issued appointment letters to several magistrates, who were likely to take responsibility as administrators to these civic bodies from Thursday.
While the district magistrate of West Tripura district will take responsibility for the Agartala Municipal Corporation, sub-divisional magistrates will act as administrators of other civic bodies in the state.
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The state election authority has postponed the elections to the civic bodies till February 27 next year in view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
CPIM leader, Pabitra Kar said, “The government’s decision to appoint administrators to civic bodies is an undemocratic and autocratic one.”
“Different states are conducting elections from the panchayat to assembly level, but in Tripura the BJP is avoiding elections as they are losing their base here,” he said.
Several political parties had objected to the appointment of administrators in the autonomous council, including the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, an ally of the ruling BJP in Tripura.
The state government had appointed administrators to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), whose tenure was to expire on May 17.
The administrators have completed six months, after which the government extended their tenure by another six months.