Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb participating in the 67th North East Council (NEC) Plenary Meeting in Shillong on Monday spoke about the achievement of Tripura’s sporting icon, Dipa Karmakar who recently made history by winning gold medal in World Championship held in Turkey.
All the members of NEC hailed her great achievement.
Chief Minister Deb reiterated the demand from the Union Government to improve and create world class gymnastic facilities in Tripura which was supported by other members.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured all possible support from the Central Government.
Deb further hailed Rajnath Singh’s role in ensuring the signing of Repatriation Agreement for resettlement of Bru Migrants back to their homeland in Mizoram after a span of over two decades.
He also appreciated the role played by Mizoram Chief Minister and considered this as the best example of cordial centre-state relations.
The Chief Minister also thanked the Union Home Minister for his unequivocal assistance during the recent floods in the State where merely within six hours of asking for help, all assistance from the Centre had reached Tripura.
Speaking on the important issue of ‘doubling farmers income by 2022’ vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Deb stated that NEC can play an important role by becoming a hub for marketing of agricultural produce from north-eastern states.
He stated how Mizoram Chief Minister was promoting jackfruit on one hand, while Arunchal Pradesh Chief Minsiter was promoting kiwi on the other.
He spoke about Tripura’s Horticulture Vision announced in the State Budget last month and also the efforts made to promote queen pineapple which was declared as state fruit of Tripura by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind recently.
Deb also raised an important issue for creation of ‘Iconic Students’ while speaking about the issue of ‘Iconic Institutes’.
He said that it would take time for Iconic Institutes to come up in the Northeast, but ‘our students must be given an opportunity to witness the best educational institutes in India by undertaking regular tours on the lines of such tours organized for students of Jammu and Kashmir.
All the members highly appreciated this issue to which Rajnath Singh, Chairman of NEC, assured positive consideration to be made by the NEC for ensuring its implementation.
Speaking about the logistics projects in the north-eastern region, Deb yet again raised the issue of early completion of Feni River Bridge project as it would open a new gateway for the region.
All the Chief Ministers of the north-eastern states spoke about increasing trade prospects with Bangladesh to which Deb added that if this gateway opens through Tripura, the prices of goods can come down by 25 per cent playing an instrumental role in furthering the growth prospects of the Northeast.