NORTHEAST/STATE: Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on Friday attended the 71st Plenary Session of the North Eastern Council in Shillong.

During the session, the Chief Minister requested the Centre to upgrade the Tripura Medical College (TMC), a society-run institute, into an AIIMS-like healthcare facility. Also, CM requested to increase the allocation of NEC Funds for Tripura, Set up a Medical College in the TTAADC area, Increase Natural Gas allocation for industrial purposes, Early operationalization of Agartala-Cox Baazar International flight, Ease ceiling on borrowing under Externally Aided Projects, Ease barriers for trade with Bangladesh, etc.

In the session, Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha said that the North Eastern Space Applications Center (NESAC) in Tripura has undertaken 21 projects according to the work plan. 8 projects have already been implemented with the support of the Tripura Space Applications Centre (TSAC).

Among these 8 projects, the launch of mobile apps and dashboards to facilitate land surveys under the Forest Rights Act, early warning of floods and lightning, demarcation of vacant areas in reserved forest areas, etc. The Chief Minister said that due to the implementation of all these programs, Tripura is already getting benefits.

Moreover, the Chief Minister proposed to set up a drone-based remote sensing data acquisition & processing facility in the state to assist all concerned departments in monitoring and issuing alerts on illegal encroachment of government land.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah presided over the plenary session. Governors, Chief Ministers of 8 North Eastern states, North Eastern Development Minister (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State for DoNER BL Verma, and concerned senior officials were all present in the session.

The session discussed various benefits and problems of the Northeast region, policy actions on the part of NEC, doNERs, and the Government of India, etc.