STATE: A review meeting in the secretariat was attended by Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). In the meeting, he reviewed various projects of the Ministry of North Eastern Development for the development of the state.
While talking to reporters, the Union Minister said that in the last 65 years, 10,000 km of National Highways were built in the country in terms of road communication. But during the last 10 years of the current central government, five and a half thousand kilometres of National Highways have been constructed. In terms of rail services, previously, only 1 state in the North Eastern region had rail connectivity. At present, 3 states of the North Eastern region have rail connectivity facilities. Currently, 19 projects are in progress to improve railway services in North Eastern states. 81 thousand crores will be spent on it.
He said that within the next 2-3 years, the central government has set a target to expand rail connectivity to the rest of the states in the northeastern region. Not only this, the railway trackling performance has also increased manifold as compared to the past days. Besides, Agartala, Dharmanagar, Kumarghat and Udaipur railway stations of Tripura state are being redeveloped under Amrit Bharat Station. He said that the Ministry of DoNER is also providing all cooperation to include North Eastern states, including Tripura, in the map of development and progress. From 2004 to 2014, the central government’s budget for the North Eastern states was Rs 24 thousand crores. At present, due to the sincere efforts of the Prime Minister, the budget of the North Eastern states has increased almost four times to Rs 1 Lakh 3 Thousand crores.
The Union Minister said that in terms of air services, where there were 9 airports in the North-Eastern states during the previous government, now it has increased to 17. He said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, the state is currently moving fast on the path of progress and development. At present, the GSDPO of the state has also increased significantly. The average per capita income in Tripura has also increased by about 15 per cent compared to the previous day. He said that the budget for the state of Tripura has increased a lot during the last 10 years of the current central government compared to the previous government’s period from 2004 to 2014. He said that Tripura state received Rs 31 thousand 285 crore from 2004 to 2014 in grant-in-aid, it has received about Rs 62 thousand crore in the last 10 years of the current government’s tenure.
The North-East region has seen great development in the telecommunication system. A package of Rs 500 crore has been undertaken to set up 119 4-G towers in the North Eastern states for further development of the telecom system. He said that Tripura has great potential for development in various fields, including horticulture, agar industry, tourism, industry, and electricity. The Union Minister said that the Donor Ministry will extend its hand of cooperation in the future for the development of Tripura, he added.