A 72-hour strike called by seven organisations of surrendered militants to press for an 11-point charter of demands was withdrawn on Saturday, the second day of the agitation, following talks with West Tripura District Magistrate Dr Vishal Kumar.

The strike was called-off after the organisations reached a consensus with the administration on a majority of the issues raised by them, the District Magistrate said.

Speaking to mediapersons after the withdrawal of the strike, the district magistrate said the administration had held discussions with all the groups representing the returnees and considered their demands.

“The rehabilitation committee of returnees called a 72-hour-long strike. We spoke to all the groups of the returnees. They had a set of demands, some of them are very crucial in the interest of the returnee beneficiaries,” he said.

The District Magistrate also noted that the administration had accepted most of the demands within the existing rules and assured the organisations that their “genuine demands” would be addressed in a time-bound manner.

“We have also talked about some points of the agreement. In view of the consensus we have reached on the majority of the issues, the leaders of returnee organisations have called off the strike,” he said.

Dr Kumar also thanked Prasenjit Debbarma, who had been leading the protest, saying he had been instrumental in the agitation.

The development came shortly after Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha returned from New Delhi, following a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

On his arrival, Dr Saha said instructions had been passed to the concerned officials to ensure that all necessary steps were taken to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, later in the evening, Agriculture minister Ratanlal Nath, accompanied by Tribal Welfare minister Bikas Debbarma and a representative of returnees’ group, said necessary steps would be taken to address the demands after the village Committee polls.