New Delhi/Agartala: Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, who attended the fifth meeting of the Governing Council of Niti Aayog in Delhi today, said Tripura is one of the best five performing states in the country in respect of e-PDS and supply chain management.
The meeting of Niti Aayog was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today.
Speaking in the meeting, the Chief Minister detailed on multiple issues and focused on several sectors like, connectivity issues in air connectivity and Inland waterways, tourism and financing, educational initiatives, State Disaster Fund, agriculture and water resource managements etc.
Air Connectivity
Drawing attention to the state’s aviation sector, the Chief Minister said the state would be benefited if the existing aviation guidelines are amended to facilitate the private operators to increase the frequency of flights in the State of Tripura.
“There is an urgent need to operate direct evening flights from Delhi to Agartala as well as from Agartala to Delhi facilitating the technocrats including doctors and health experts, Central Government officials, private investors and so on to save their valuable time,” Deb said.
Inland Waterways Connectivity
Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister hoped that Inland Water Transport in Tripura project could make Tripura a gateway to the entire North East region and so the project may be expedited and grounded at the earliest by declaration of rive Gomati as Indo-Bangladesh protocol route etc.
South Tripura district may play a significant role in this context. In order to boost tourism in the State, Ministry of Tourism may help the state to construct a ropeway connecting Matabari (Place of Tripurasundari Temple) and Chhabimura, famous for its panels of rock carving on steep mountain wall on the bank of river Gomati, the Chief Minister stated.
CSR Fund and State Financing
The Chief Minister also spoke in favour of having more CSR fund in the North-East, adding that the public sector companies in India may be permitted to spend 10 percent of their CSR funds in the NE states. This will pave way for early implementation of ‘HIRA’, the grand initiative of the Prime Minister, which will boost not only tourism sector but also many other sectors in the state.
In the context of state finance the Chief Minister said, the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas may examine the issue of waiving of VAT by setting up a high-level committee consisting of members from the state government, Petroleum Ministry and OTPC to suggest course of action as the Palatana power project is completed and waiver of VAT is causing substantial loss to the State Government.
Education
State Government has introduced the NCERT Syllabus from Class VI to XII w.e.f. 2019-20. Further, also steps are on to merge 2-3 schools into one, wherever the number of students is minimum, as this initiative could reduce the establishment cost.
Disaster Management
The Chief Minister also said, unlike other parts of the country, Tripura faces more of floods rather than drought. Tripura received 44 percent more rainfall than normal precipitation in 2017. Similarly in 2018, Tripura received excess rainfall and there were severe floods. The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) was not adequate to meet the immediate response due to lack of fund.
In such a situation, regular and continuous support is needed from the Government of India for handling floods as it is a recurrent phenomenon in the State every year. Therefore, the annual allocation of SDRF to Tripura may be enhanced, as it is limited to Rs. 38 crore including state share presently.
The Chief Minister also said in the meeting that there were 5 to 6 major perennial rivers in the state namely Manu, Gomati, Deo, Dhalai, Khowai and Howrah. These rivers historically in the last 30 years have been causing floods very regularly and almost every year.
The State Government has been spending or spent huge funds from SDRF. Instead of handling the problem every year, he requested for providing assistance to State Government to construct permanent cemented embankment in phased and gradual manner.
To accomplish this, Government of India /NITI Aayog may depute a high-level team to study the above problem and recommend a special package for 5-7 years period. As per Half-Yearly Baseline Ranking as on 3rd October, 2018, Dhalai district ranked 74th amongst the 117 identified Aspirational Districts.
Other sectors
However, in agriculture and water resources sector, the district has been ranked 3rd best amongst all districts and flagged as Most Improved District, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb informed the august platform. He also stated that Dhalai District has been bestowed with National Awards for its best performance in MGNREGA, Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA) and Poshan Abhiyaan Schemes during last 3 years.
Lastly, the Chief Minister said on the similar lines of Government of India, the State Government has also taken lead and given further fillip to the backward district by declaring 12 Tribal / ADC blocks (4 in Dhalai district, one in South Tripura district, three in Gomati district, two in North Tripura district and two in Khowai district) as distressed blocks. Accordingly the State Government has provided free ration at 20 kg per month per NFSA families numbering 62,000 for two months.
