TRIPURAHERALD

Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha today inaugurated the weeklong Kharchi Puja at Chaturdash Devata Bari Temple in Old Agartala.  Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Transport, Tourism Sushanta Chowdhury, Minister for Tribal Welfare, Handloom, Handicrafts & Sericulture, Statistics Bikash Debbarma, Mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation Dipak Majumder,  MLA of 05-Khayerpur Constituency Ratan Chakraborty and other dignitaries were present in the inaugural ceremony of the festival.

The festival lasts for seven days and 14 gods are worshipped at the Chaturdasha temple near Old Agartala. The 14 deities are known as the Chaturdasha Devata and are Lord Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Kartikeya, Ganesha, Earth, Ganga, Agni, Kama, Himavan and Varuna.

Kharchi is derived from ‘khya’ which means ‘earth’ and the festival marks the cleansing of Ama Pechi which is the female cycle of the earth godess.

The main feature of this festival in Tripura is that, whether the festival is basically tribal or not, all people regardless tribal and non-tribal join the festival in a joyous mood and become part and parcel of it.

Chaturdas Devata is a family deity of the Maharajas of Tripura. Since the merger of the State with the Indian Union on October 15, 1949 the State government is maintaining the temple. Though the princely days are gone still all practices of the royal days are followed in observing the festival as well as performing the daily puja.

Chief Minister Prof Dr.Manik Saha on Sunday inaugurated a blood donation camp organized by Aurobindo Club of Agartala at Aurobindo Club Premises and said blood donation is one of the greatest signs of human responsibility. There is no substitute for blood. The demand of blood can be fulfilled only by voluntarily donation. He also lauded the initiative of the club over organizing blood donation.

 Chief Minister Dr.Manik Saha on Sunday appealed to the residents of the State to donate blood in order to save lives. “Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives”. Each unit of blood donated is separated into four major components -platelets, plasma, red blood cells and white blood cells which can be used to save four lives, he said.

It takes just a few minutes to donate blood, with each unit of blood donated being used to save four lives. We can segregate blood components these days and one unit is used to save lives. Many a time blood is not easily available to people in emergency situations. People need to understand the importance of blood donation and there is no harm in donating it. Donation is the lone source of blood. So, to save life, blood needs to be donated, the chief minister said.

“If we donate blood, it would not just help the patients but our own bodies as well. Donation of blood is like servicing one’s own system as it helps your body form new blood more often and so become more robust”. There is no alternative of blood. The demand of blood could only be met through voluntary blood donation, he said, adding that one can save a precious life by donating blood.

Mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation Dipak Majumder and other dignitaries were present in the inaugural ceremony of the blood donation camp.

A “Mega Blood Donation Camp” and “Safety Workshop of Electricity” was organized by the Tripura State Electricity Corporation (TSECL) Workers and Employees Sangh at Bipani Bitan, Durga Chowmuhani on Sunday.

Addressing on the occasion Minister of Power, Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare and Election Department Ratan Lal Nath motivated the donors to donate blood to save lives. He also urged the people to come forward and donate blood at regular intervals to meet the demands. Blood donation is a noble cause. I urge and appeal to all citizens to come forward and donate blood, he added.

The minister said that blood donation is the noblest donation in the world. Every donation is critical and you can make a lifesaving difference. Standing beside a person in trouble and extending a helping hand is an ideal person. Hundreds of people are losing in the battle of life for a drop of blood every moment, we do not want this in any way. We can save many lives by donating blood. Though many impossible things happen in modern medical science but blood has not been discovered yet.   As a result, the patients who need excess blood for some reason, that blood has to be collected from the body of a healthy person. This is why blood donation is considered a great donation, Ratan Lal Nath added.

MLA 7-Ramnagar Assembly Constituency Surajit Datta and other dignitaries were also present.

The second annual general meeting of the Tripura Distributors Association (FMCG) was held at Agartala Press Club on Sunday.

Northeast Distributors Association (NEDA’s) President Vijay Gupta and General Secretary of Northeast Distributors Association (NEDA’s) Poonam Taneja were present in the 2^nd annual general meeting of Tripura Distributors Association.

In the meeting they discussed about the problems related to the distributors. Apart from that a new Working committee of 21 people were also formed, and an Advisory committee of five people was also formed.  The new president of the Advisory committee is Jaharlal Banik, General Secretary Surajit Das and Vice President Ashis Pal.

“The Hope” has been playing a leading role in advanced eye treatment since its inception, in the past few months more than 1100 eye advanced phaco or cataract operations have been successfully performed.

To provide much better eye related treatment “The Hope” has started eye retina surgery from today. Specialist doctors from the state and outside the state have successfully performed eye surgeries at “The Hope”. Dr. Subijay Sinha, a renowned retina specialist and surgeon has successfully performed 12 retinal surgeries today. “The Hope” authorities have decided to start this service keeping in mind that the citizens of the state need not go outside the state for retinal check-up.

The weeklong Kharchi Puja at Chaturdash Devata Bari Temple in Old Agartala will begin from June 26. Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha will inaugurate the festival. Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Transport, Tourism Sushanta Chowdhury, Mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation Dipak Majumder and other dignitaries will be present in the inaugural ceremony of the festival.

 Addressing a press conference today MLA of 05-Khayerpur Constituency Ratan Chakraborty said that preparations are going on in full swing to make the weeklong Kharchi Puja at Chaturdash Devata Bari Temple in Old Agartala a success. Keeping eyes on the 7 day long Kharchi, preparation is on peak at Chaturdasha Devta Bari Temple premises at Khayerpur. Kharchi Puja is a weeklong festival. The rituals are conducted by tribal priest and the main priest is called ‘Chantai.’

The festival lasts for seven days and 14 gods are worshipped at the Chaturdasha temple near Old Agartala. The 14 deities are known as the Chaturdasha Devata and are Lord Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Kartikeya, Ganesha, Earth, Ganga, Agni, Kama, Himavan and Varuna.

On Kharchi Puja, the gods are taken out from the temple and carried to be washed in holy water from a stream then taken back to the temple. Kharchi is derived from ‘khya’ which means ‘earth’ and the festival marks the cleansing of Ama Pechi which is the female cycle of the earth godess.

The main feature of this festival in Tripura is that, whether the festival is basically tribal or not, all people regardless tribal and non-tribal join the festival in a joyous mood and become part and parcel of it.

Chaturdas Devata is a family deity of the Maharajas of Tripura. Since the merger of the State with the Indian Union on October 15, 1949 the State government is maintaining the temple. Though the princely days are gone still all practices of the royal days are followed in observing the festival as well as performing the daily puja.

Tripura Police seized a hefty amount of illicit drugs from the house of a drug smuggler.  The drugs which were seized are heroin and Yaba tablets.

Acting on a tip off police personnel from Radha Kishore pur police station raided the house of one  Salim Mia resident of Salgara, lichu bagan area in Udaipur. During the raid police recovered several hundred containers of heroin, 132 Yaba tablets, two mobile phones and huge amount of cash from Salim Mia’s house. But Salim Mia was found absconding, the police said.

Some young people are taking their lives to the brink of extinction, like heroin and brown sugar. Being addicted to drugs, they are also involved in various anti-social activities. Unable to raise money for drugs, some are organizing thefts at various homes and shops, which has led to an increase in thefts.

However, Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha has called on Tripura to get rid of drugs. Police are seizing crores worth of heroin, brown sugar and arresting traffickers, but the real kingpins remain out of reach, which is why the state is not moving towards a drug-free state despite so many anti-drug campaigns.

A case has been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in this regard and we have already started investigation.  A hunt is on to arrest Salim Mia as soon as possible, said cops. 

A blood donation camp was organized by the Bhaktivedanta National School of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in front of guruji conference hall at orient chowmuhani on Saturday.

Speaking to the reporters during the blood donation camp a priest of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) said that “though science and technology have developed to a great extent, no person has succeeded in finding an alternative or a substitute for blood. Hence, the blood is very precious,” the priest said.

Standing beside a person in trouble and extending a helping hand is an ideal person. Hundreds of people are losing in the battle of life for a drop of blood every moment, we do not want this in any way. We can save many lives by donating blood. Though many impossible things happen in modern medical science but blood has not been discovered yet.   As a result, the patients who need excess blood for some reason, that blood has to be collected from the body of a healthy person. This is why blood donation is considered a great donation, the priest further added.

The second annual general meeting of the Tripura Distributors Association (FMCG) will he held on June 25 at Agartala Press Club.

Addressing a press conference today working president Ashis Pal said that the second annual general meeting of the Tripura Distributors Association (FMCG) will he held on June 25 at Agartala Press Club. Northeast Distributors Association (NEDA’s) President Vijay Gupta and General Secretary of Northeast Distributors Association (NEDA’s) Poonam Taneja will be present in the second annual general meeting of the Tripura Distributors Association (FMCG).

He urged all the distributors of the state to participate in the second annual general meeting. We will discuss all the problems related to the distributors in the meeting, he added. A new committee of the Tripura Distributors Association (FMCG) will also be formed on June 25, he mentioned.

President of Tripura Distributors Association (FMCG) Jaharlal Banik, Advisor Habul Dhar, General Secretary Ajoy Saha and Treasurer Bijoy Kaniti Banik were present in the press conference.