March 23, 2018: For the first time, national anthem was played today in the opening session of Tripura Assembly. The first Assembly session after Biplab Deb led BJP-IPFT assumed power commenced from today and resume on March 26 for two days. Apart from election of the Speaker Rebati Mohan das, the Governor delivered his customary speech followed by vote-on accounts. The Finance Minister Jishnu Dev Varman tabled Rs 4057.19 Cr for next three months
Rebati Mohan Das – the BJP MLA Pratapgarh (SC) constituency, was elected unopposed as Speaker. The Opposition Left Front which has 16 MLAs in 60-seat Assembly, did not put up any candidate for the Speaker post. As a precautionary move, treasury bench put up Dhirendra Debbarma – BJP MLA from Golaghati constituency – as ‘dummy’ candidate. However, Pro tem speaker and senior legislator Ratan Chakraborty declared Rebati Mohan Das elected.
Election of Rebati Mohan Das was followed by customary speech of the Governor Tathagata Roy. In his hour long-speech, Tathagata Roy read out policies, programmes and priorities of the new BJP-IPFT Government in details. In his speech, the Governor –
- Welcomed State Cabinet’s decision to appoint ‘expert committee’ for 7th CPC.
- Mentioned about improving work culture of the employees
- Stressed on industrialization, investment, job opportunities in Govt as well as private sector and self employment
- For increasing employability, stressed on vocalization of Education.
- Batted for environment friendly development and people friendly Public Distribution System.
- Emphasis on infrastructural development
- Overall development of TTAADC ensuring ‘Sab ka sath, Sab ka Vikash’
- Stressed on at least one medical college in TTAADC area
In the second half of the session, Finance Minister who is also the Deputy CM, Jishnu Dev Varman placed supplementary demands for grants of expenditure of Rs 1161.35 Cr in current financial year. Dev Varman also tabled vote-on accounts of Rs 4057.19 Cr. For next three months until new Govt comes up with full-fledged Budget.
In his customary speech on speaker’s election, the Leader of the opposition Manik Sarkar hailed the election and expressed the hope that the new Speaker would perform his responsibilities with fairness and uphold the dignity of the house. Sarkar also asserted that the opposition would extend full co-operation while exercising its right to make constructive criticism.
Members of the House will discuss on Governor’s speech, supplementary grants and vote-on accounts on March 26.
