People's Democracy

 Manik Sarkar Meets PM

THE chief minister of Tripura, Manik Sarkar met the prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on April 14 at New Delhi and discussed certain important issues relating to his state.

The chief minister mentioned that the government of Tripura has submitted a revised proposal with the project cost of about Rs 146 crore to the minister of development of north east region (DoNER) for setting up of a medical college. The Medical Council of India has already given permission for starting the college during this calendar year and DPR has incorporated all the suggestions made by it.  The preliminary work for setting up of college has already been started by the state government, however the approval and the sanction of the project from DoNER is still awaited. Manik Sarkar sought the intervention of the prime minister for expediting the sanction of medical college project from DoNER. It was also mentioned that DoNER may consider sanction of the project in phases or otherwise the prime minister may ensure that the project does not suffer for want of funds. The PM assured the chief minister that all assistance will be provided to the state government for implementation of the project. He assured to take up the matter with DoNER to expedite approval and sanction for the project.

The chief minister also thanked Dr Manmohan Singh on behalf of the people of Tripura for declaring the railway line project upto Agartala as a national project. He stated that the declaration will become more meaningful, if the railway line from Lumding to Dhamanagar and further to Agartala be undertaken as an integrated project along with the extension project of the railway line. The PM assured that the concerns of the state government will be looked into and steps will be taken to complete the extension of railway line project along with the gauge conversion.

Manik Sarkar requested Dr Manmohan Singh to visit Tripura, which was accepted and the PM promised that he would visit the state soon. The PM also enquired from the chief minister the law and order situation in the state. The CM mentioned that recently the district council election have been conducted, which were held by and large peacefully. He requested the centre to put pressure on Bangladesh for closing the insurgent camps, which will go a long way in ushering peace in this region.

The chief minister also mentioned about the problems regarding 289 MW
power project by NEEPCO. The prime minister assured to look into all pending issues and promised to extend full support to the state government in resolving these matters. (INN)