finance commission
Chairman of 15th Finance Commission N K Singh flanked by others members addressing media at the Civil Secretariat Building in Agartala on January 17, 2019. Courtesy: tripurainfo.com

The north-eastern states were on Thursday asked to accelerate resources and revenue to strengthen fiscal position.

The suggestion came from the chairman of the 15th Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh.

Interacting with media in Agartala on Thursday, Singh said that the north-eastern states must accelerate own resources and revenue to build up sustainable fiscal situations.

‘Each northeastern state has unique features and challenges, he added.

Accompanied by two other members of the commission – Ashok Lahiri (former chief economic adviser) and Anoop Singh (former Georgetown University professor) – the Chairman said that there are huge resources and opportunities in the region and that these must be tapped properly.

Singh, a former Planning Commission member, said that the connectivity between the Northeast and rest of the world could be improved by using the Chittagong sea port, which is just 72km away from southern Tripura, and the other infrastructure of Bangladesh.

He further assured that the Central Government would extend all out support to the north-eastern states to face challenges and improve growth trajectory and would take sympathetic view for the all round growth of all the states of the region.

To a query over special category tag for the northeastern states, he stressed that this must be continued.

Heaping praises on the Tripura government’s efforts to make it an ‘ace-model state’, Singh said that there are potentiality in tourism, agriculture and other sectors.

“With proper utilization of the talents of the human resources, qualitative changes could be done. Bamboo, forest resources and diverse industrial potentiality could be harnessed properly. We would give a careful look to the state government’s demands, aspiration and vision,” he added.

Singh said that after visiting remaining 12 states including three north-eastern states – Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim – Commission would submit its report to the government this year end for the five-year period starting April 1, 2020.

Singh and his other members of the commission held meetings with the top functionaries of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council, Panchayati Raj Institutions, urban local bodies, representatives of various organisations of industries and commerce besides leaders of recognized political parties.

The Commission on the second day of its three-day consultation programme on Thursday met the council of ministers led by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and top government officials led by Chief Secretary Lalit Kumar Gupta.

The commission members and officials on Thursday visited a giant 726 MW capacity power plant, set up by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation sponsored company — ONGC Tripura Power Company — at Palatana in southern Tripura