Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, also the Finance Minister attended a pre-budget consultation meeting with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Friday (Nov 25).
The Deputy Chief Minister thanked the Union Finance Minister for increasing the allocation under ‘Scheme for Financial Assistance to States for Capital Investment’ by over six-folds to Rs 1 lakh crore, out of which Rs 700 crore has been allocated for Tripura under the scheme for various projects in the financial year 2022-23.
The Deputy Chief Minister of Tripura submitted few demands to the Union Finance Minister for the upcoming Union Budget of 2023-24. These demands include setting up of AIIMS like institution in Agartala Government Medical College Hospital Complex which will immensely benefit people of the state with prime health care facilities and hence boost health tourism, allocation of Rs 414 crore for establishment of Dental College in Agartala,
Dev Varma also demanded a special financial package of Rs 500 crore for accelerating all round development of TTAADC areas, setting up of an Integrated plant for production of Grey Fertilizer and Green Hydrogen in partnership with the Government of India (the plant will use emerging green technologies for producing grey fertilizer and green hydrogen using abundant natural gas and clean energy sources in the state).
He also sought funding support of Rs 100 crore for Solar Micro Grids in rural and tribal areas (the state government plans to connect all the tribal hamlets which are still to be connected through power grid with solar micro grids in the next two to three years with an investment of Rs 100 crore),
On the connectivity front, Dhaka-Agartala air connectivity, construction of alternate railway lines – one between Pecharthal-Kailsahar-Dharmanagar and another between Belonia-Sabroom-Kailasahar for easy movement of goods and ease to commute and allocation of Rs 200 crore for establishment of National Law University in Tripura.