A residential house along with surrounding nine shops were gutted in a fire at Belonia under South Tripura district on Monday midnight and incurred a loss of approximately Rs 22 lakhs. Locals alleged that the house was set on fire out of political rivalry.
The incident took place at the popular morning bazaar area at Ek number Tila in Belonia. Unidentified miscreants set ablaze the house of one Tamal Kanti Banik and flames burnt down the house along with nine shops adjacent to Banik’s house.
Speaking to the media, one of the tenants alleged, the miscreants tried to kill the occupants of the house.
“Miscreants locked the door of the house from outside and set the house on fire. We were unable to come out of the burning house which eventually reduced to ashes. We somehow managed to escape – otherwise we would have been burnt alive inside the house”, Banik said.
He further said that the fire incident caused a huge loss for him and he appealed to the government for adequate compensation.
Although the reason behind the incident is yet to be known, but it is assumed that it was a result of political rivalry and revenge.
Alarmed by the incident, the SDM Ratan Bhowmik on Tuesday visited the incident spot and took stock of the situation. He assured of proper investigation of the incident. He also assured financial aid for the victim family.
On the other hand, the local BJP leader Gautam Sarkar – who unsuccessfully contested from Belonia Constituency as BJP nominated candidate – also visited the victim family on Tuesday and extended some financial aid to the family.
Sarkar condemned the incident and held the Opposition party workers responsible for the incident. He said, a section of society is actively trying to create disturbances in the State. Sarkar, however, urged the BJP supporters to stay calm and refrain from provocation. He exuded confidence that the Administration would be able to address the present situation and normalize it soon.