Agartala: January 19 : In the 71st Plenary Session of the North Eastern Regional Council in Shillong today, Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha has requested to increase the allocation of NEC Fund for Tripura. Addressing the session, the Chief Minister asked for AIIMS-like status to Tripura Medical College, establishment of medical colleges in Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous Zilla Parishad area, increase in allocation of natural gas for industrial sector, launch of international air service between Agartala-Cox’s Bazar, maximum financial support in projects implemented with foreign financial assistance. Requested to waive the amount and lift various restrictions on commercial transactions with Bangladesh.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah presided over the plenary session. Governors, Chief Ministers of 8 North Eastern states, North Eastern Development Minister (Donor) G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State for Donor BL Verma and concerned senior officials were present in the session. The session discussed various benefits and problems of the North Eastern region, policy actions on the part of NEC, donors and Government of India etc.
In the session, the Chief Minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for paying special attention to the development of the state of Tripura. In the session, Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha said that the North Eastern Space Applications Center (NESAC) in Tripura has undertaken 21 projects as per the work plan. 8 of these projects have already been implemented with the help of Tripura Space Applications. Among these 8 projects, launch of mobile apps and dashboards to facilitate land survey under Forest Rights Act, early warning of floods and lightning, demarcation of vacant areas in reserved forest areas, etc. are notable.
The Chief Minister said that due to the implementation of all these programs, Tripura is already getting benefits. Moreover, the completion of the current project will provide valuable information for the improvement of horticulture, agriculture, agar and disaster management in Tripura such as determination of acre-wise quantity in paddy and maize production, identification of potential cultivation areas for various horticultural crops, identification of areas under cultivation for expansion of agar cultivation etc. Moreover, the Chief Minister proposed to set up a drone-based remote sensing data collection hub in the state to assist all concerned departments in monitoring and issuing alerts on illegal encroachment of government land.
