New Delhi : Union Minister for Home and Cooperation Amit Shah addressed Tripura’s 50th Statehood Day celebrations through video conferencing today. A video message of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi was also played out on the occasion, congratulating pepole of the State on their Statehood Day. Several dignitaries including Tripura Governor, Shri Satyadev Narayan Arya and Chief Minister, Shri Biplab Kumar Deb were also present at the function.
On this occasion, the Union Home Minister began his address by wishing the people of Tripura on their State Foundation Day and paying homage to Mother Tripura Sundari. Along with Tripura, the Home Minister also congratulated the people of Meghalaya and Manipur also on the occasion of their Satehood Days. Tripura is a very important state of India which has a glorious history and today on the completion of 50 years of the state, we should imagine where will Tripura be after 25 years. Congratulating the Chief Minister Shri Shah said that he has set a goal before the people of Tripura through Sankalp-2047. Today, the Department of Posts, Government of India has also released a commemorative postage stamp of the state.
The Union Home Minister said that since the Partition of the country, Tripura has faced many difficulties and at that time Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya joined the Union of India. At the time of Partition, Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya of Tripura was the first king to announce the union with the Indian Union. Ever since the British started adopting the policy of divide and rule, the Maharaja first supported the Indian Union. When terrorists started entering Tripura from the then East Pakistan, Maharani Kanchanprabha had sought help from Sardar Patel and he had helped Tripura by sending the Air Force from Assam.Today, on Tripura’s Foundation Day, I also remember Sardar Patel whose quick and visionary decision helped Tripura become a part of India. Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya contributed a lot to the development of Tripura. Be it Rudrasagar Pond, Neermahal, donating hundreds of acres of land for education, building Agartala Airport, Raja Saheb laid the foundation of Tripura’s development in every field and that is why Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has named Agartala Airport in the name of Raja Sahib. A State-of-the-Art airport at a cost of Rs. 438 crore has been built. The biggest example of promoting talent is Jagdish Chandra Bose, India’s great scientist. If the Maharaja of Tripura had not given him financial support, he probably would not have achieved such glory in science in the world and in the country.
Amit Shah said that Lakshya-2047 is not just a document, but it showcases the hopes and aspirations of the people of Tripura, it is a blueprint for the future of Tripura. It is a blueprint for the kind of Tripura coming generations will see, especially the type of contribution the youth will make in the State’s development. It mainly identifies six areas – agriculture, social harmony, environment and climate change, industry and investment, administrative reforms, and telecommunications and logistics – and lays out a roadmap of Tripura progress in all these areas. The Prime Minister has said during the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, that the next 25 years will be a period of resolve, because the people will have to decide on where India will be in every field, when the Nation celebrates its Centenary of Independence. These 25 years are the pinnacle of hard work for every Indian and people of Tripura. If the country has to ensure its place in the world, then considering these 25 years as the time of resolve, it will have to move forward. He said that the country was under foreign rule for a long time, but now that the country is free, it has 25 years to compensate for lagging behind due to foreign rule. This Lakshya-2047 document will go a long way towards making Tripura great, developed, secure and self-reliant.
Union Minister of Home and Cooperation said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always tried to reduce the distance between Delhi and the North East and change the mindset and develop the whole of the North East, and, that is why he has resolved to develop the eight States of the region by giving them the name of Ashtalakshmi. Once upon a time, the North East was known for corruption, but today there are NEDA governments in all eight states and money sent from Delhi to these eight states is spent on development. He said many development works have taken place in Tripura. Work is also on to develop Tripura as a gateway to the North East. There will be a lot of investment in Tripura in the coming days due to the dozens of road and rail projects and international waterway connectivity with Bangladesh. The work of Agartala-Akhaura rail link is also progressing at a rapid pace. The Tripura government has made great efforts to bring peace and stability. Today, instead of extremism, infiltration, blockades, drugs, arms trafficking, corruption and communal tension, Tripura is now moving towards development, connectivity, infrastructure, sports, investment, and promotion of organic farming.
The Centre and Government of Tripura have done a wonderful job by signing an accord with the NLFT in 2019, ending an atmosphere of unrest. A package of Rs. 100 crore was given and Rs. 40 crore have already been released to Tripura. Even in the Bru Agreement, the Government of India has given a large package to solve the 30-year-old problem of about 37,000 people and Bru refugees are ready to join the mainstream and contribute to the development of India and Tripura.
Shri Amit Shah said that the Communist regime left no stone unturned to make Tripura a backward state, and violence against its rivals remained the politics of the Communists. Governments were never run from the point of view of development and an important state like Tripura was deprived of development for two decades. But our government came to power in Tripura with a full majority keeping faith in Shri Modi and today Tripura is moving on the path of development. In these two decades, more than 450 workers of our party were attacked, many people lost their lives, remained destitute in their own State, in their own country as refugees. But today all these efforts have begun yielding results and Tripura has started moving on the path of development. After the formation of the government in Tripura, the Chief Minister Shri Biplab Kumar Deb launched a drug-free Tripura campaign and took strict action on drug smuggling that was taking place with support of the previous State government. Tripura is no longer a safe haven for drug smugglers. Due to the campaign by Shri Biplab Kumar Deb, not only the youth of Tripura have become free from drugs, but the biggest route of drugs has been closed across the country and tribal society has been the biggest beneficiary of this drug de-addiction campaign.
The Union Home Minister said that there has been a huge change because of the double engine government in State since 2018 under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Biplab Deb and the Tripura Government has moved ahead with three Ns– N for Niyat, N for Neeti and N for Niyam. The per capita income of Tripura was Rs. 1vlakh in 2017-18, which has increased to Rs. 1.30 lakh in three years in 2020-21. Perhaps no State has registered an increase of 30 percent. Monthly income of farmers was Rs. 6,580 in 2015-16 and has increased to Rs. 11,096 in 2020-21. The Tripura Government has worked towards the resolve made by Shri Modi to double farmers’ income. An investment of about Rs. 2,000 crore has come into the State, and, about Rs. 1,000 crore alone has been invested in the IT sector. The biggest fact is that the law and order situation in the state has greatly improved. Rarely has any state achieved a 26 percent reduction in serious crimes within two years. Tripura has achieved much in agriculture. About 86,000 hectares of land was covered under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. Under the Pradhan Mantri Samman Nidhi Yojana, the Prime Minister sends Rs. 6,000 per year to 2.5 lakh farmers directly in their bank accounts, so that small farmers do not need to take loans. For the first time after the formation of Tripura, 72,000 metric tonnes of paddy has been purchased from 41,000 farmers by paying Rs. 130 crore. Tripura is also taking the lead in organic farming and about 15,000 hectares of area has been cultivated with pineapple, aromatic rice, ginger, turmeric and chilli. The importance of organic farming is going to increase greatly in the future and the way the demand for organic food is increasing all over the world, this will prove to be a very strong foundation and farmers are likely to fetch almost double the price for their organic products. Farmers’ produce can now reach Delhi very easily through the train service started by Shri Modi. Work has also been done to train about 10,000 bamboo artisans by making bamboo cultivation the base. He said that under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the work of providing houses to 7,00,000 poor families has progressed. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Narendra Modi government is providing five kgs. ration per person free of cost to every family. The Tripura Government did a wondrrful job during the COVID-19 pandemic. The vaccination campaign has also been carried out very well. A lot of work has been done in the field of infrastructure. Six National Highways have been sanctioned for 542 kms. and work is also in progress. Six express trains are running from Agartala to different parts of the country. Under the Prime Minister’s Saubhagya Yojana, the work of lighting up 1,36,000 houses for the first time after Independence is also being done. Under the Atal Jaldhara Mission, the work of providing free water connections has also been done and a blueprint has also been prepared to ensure that pure drinking water should reach every household in almost the whole of Tripura.
The Union Home Minister said that Tripura has embarked on a new era under the leadership of Shri Modi and the most important thing is that the Lakshya – 2047 issued today is a document to transform Tripura. He appealed to the youth of Tripura to join the development journey of the State and India under the leadership of Shri Modi, and when India celebrates its Centenary of Independence, Tripura should be the most developed State.
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