Union
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday promised that a Rs 1300-crore project for
Sustainable Development and Infrastructure Development for
Tripura‘s
Tribal areas would be cleared within the next 10 days.
Addressing a meeting after inaugurating a slew of 11 projects at Mohanpur, about 50 km from here, Sitharaman said the Rs. 1300-crore project with World Bank funding would ensure an all-round development in the state’s tribal areas.
Tribals form one third of the state’s population. In recent elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, the ruling BJP and its allies were trounced by the newly formed Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance led by a former royal, Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman, causing alarms about the future electoral prospects of the ruling alliance.
She also announced that two other projects worth over Rs 21 crore were cleared by the Centre on Friday morning itself. The two projects include- widening of state highways (Rs. 14.15 crore) and various works in the capital city (7.4 crore).
The Union Finance Minister, who arrived in Tripura on a two-day visit, besides inaugurating local projects worth Rs. 189 crore, also reviewed the status of on-going Externally-Aided Projects (EAPs).
Besides, Sitharaman the review meeting was also attended by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, Chief Secretary Kumar Alok and other senior officials.
According to a tweet from Sitharaman’s office, the EAPs include Project for Sustainable Catchment Forest Management in Tripura (funding by Japan Internal Cooperation Agency), Tripura Urban and Tourism Development Project (funded by Asian Development Bank) and North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (funded by World Bank). These projects are meant for overall development of the state cutting across areas like education, health, communication, infrastructure, power and livelihood support.
Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb in a social media post also said the Union Minister had congratulated the state government for work done through EAPs in Tripura.
“FM Nirmala Sitharaman congratulates state officials on work done through EAPs for the holistic development of the state,” Deb wrote on his official Facebook handle.
The Union Finance Minister also interacted with health officials and met beneficiaries of Tripura’s ongoing Covid vaccination drive at a centre at Gandhigram, about 10 km from here. Sitharaman’s office later tweeted, “As on August 27, 33,24,427 anti-COVID vaccine doses have been administered in Tripura. 24,53,931 beneficiaries have received the first dose while 8,70,496 beneficiaries have received the second dose of vaccine. Tripura has 358 sites conducting vaccination.”
Accompanied by chief minister Deb, the Union Minister also paid a visit to Hatipara Forest Complex at Gandhigram. She inspected the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) Centre and Agar plantation where she was apprised by the officials about the potentials of Tripura’s Agar sector. She also planted a sapling.
Sitharaman will visit Matabari temple at Udaipur and then Dasarath Deb Memorial School Ground at Killa village council under Gomati district where she will hold a meeting and interact with the members of women-run Self-Help Groups.
She is also slated to flag-off a mobile van of Tripura State Cooperative Bank Ltd on the occasion of 7th anniversary of Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana, before leaving the state.