May 25, 2018: The Chief Minister Biplab Deb attended the 13th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Inter-state Council in New Delhi today. Union Home Minister Raj Nath Singh chaired the meeting. While discussing several issues, the Chief Minister elaborated issues relating to forest cover and said, for forest rich states like Tripura, there is comparatively lesser land availability for undertaking developmental activities such as agriculture and industrial activity. Hence, he asserted the fact that states – with large forest cover – must be adequately compensated for their efforts to maintain and enhance forest cover in their state.
An official release stated the Chief Minister imparted several key inputs and gave suggestions on the report of Punchi Commission during the discussions in the meeting.
He also spoke on the issue of ‘Environment, Ecology and Climate change’ and said, both the central and state governments have an equal role to play for the conservation and protection of environment and hence this subject must be kept in the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution instead of the Union List.
He also expressed his unwavering commitments towards ‘upliftment of the poorest of the poor’ in the society. This shall in turn help in the fulfillment of Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay’s vision of ‘Antyodaya’, he added.
On ‘compensation of forest cover’, he he asserted the fact that states with large forest cover such as Tripura must be adequately compensated for their efforts to maintain and enhance forest cover in their state.
He also stated that the 15th Finance Commission must give adequate weightage to this factor while determining devolution formula of Central Funds to the states. The meeting was attended by Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways and Mines, Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Social Justice and Development, Thawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister of Road Transport, Transport, Shipping and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Law and Justice and Electronics & IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Several Ministers representing various states of the country were also present during the meeting.
Apart from the meeting, the Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, who was on a two-day trip to Kerala for party’s poll campaign, met several union ministers in New Delhi today.
