Tripura CM Dr Manik Saha announces projects initiated for boosting state's economy

AGARTALA: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha said on Saturday that a total of eight projects, amounting to Rs. 109.19 crore, have been identified and forwarded to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Government of India, and the state government is investing Rs. 1000 crore for the promotion of Tripura, according to a press release. The proposed projects are expected to have a positive impact on Tripura's economic growth and development, said the Chief Minister while addressing a meeting of Niti Aayog in New Delhi. Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister said that the state government launched a vision document named LAKSHYA 2047, laying the road map of development for the state till 2047. The document was launched on January 21, 2022, on the occasion of Tripura's 50th Statehood Day, according to the press release.

Talking about micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the CM said that the development of MSME has provided an impetus to the cross-border trade between Tripura and Bangladesh as it shares 84 per cent of its border with Bangladesh. "The state government has been supporting MSME through the implementation of various schemes in the state." The industrial units that are using bamboo, rubber, tea, agricultural and horticultural produce, and gas as their major raw materials in production are thrust sectors. These sectors are eligible to get additional capital subsidies, lower power tariffs, easy access to industrial estates, etc. under the state incentive scheme called 'Tripura Industrial Investment Promotion Incentive Scheme (TIIPIS), 2022', said the CM. He also informed that to make Tripura the main hub for the agarwood trade in the country, the state government has released the Tripura Agarwood Policy, 2021, to tap about Rs 2000 crore of ‘agar economy’ by 2025, and said that the state government has significantly increased its capital expenditure from Rs 835 crore during 2020–21 to Rs 2200 crore in the financial year 2022–23, with annual growth of about 62 per cent."

While addressing the gathering, the state also identified over 2000 acres of land for industrial development, public-private partnership projects, special economic zone projects, and sector-specific projects on rubber, agar, bamboo, food processing, etc. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to extend a loan to the state government to upgrade 15 industrial estates. The state has also brought down the value added tax (VAT) on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to 1 percent to reduce airfare for travellers. In addition, the state government has given a subsidy of Rs 14.00 crore per annum for air connectivity between Agartala (India) and Chittagong (Bangladesh), which would not only boost air travel between the two countries but also give a fillip to the hospitality and health services sectors in the state.

On women's empowerment, the Tripura Government has laid the most stress, and speaking about this, the CM said that the state has formulated a comprehensive ‘Tripura State Policy for Empowerment of Women-2022,’ which contains measures for promoting the empowerment of women in the state. He also said that there are 4,16,292 active women members from rural poor families who have been mobilized into 46,475 women's self-help groups (SHGs), 1950 village organizations (VOs), and 88 cluster-level federations (CLFs). The state government is also working tirelessly to improve infant, child, and maternal health, build stronger immune systems, ensure safer pregnancy and childbirth, lower the risk of non-communicable diseases, reduce anaemia, prevent wasting and stunting in children, and increase longevity. ‘The state has taken up initiatives like 'Chief Minister's Poshan Abhiyaan’ to ensure additional nutritional support for the severely acutely malnourished (SAM) children. We have also introduced ‘Mukhya Mantri Sustha Saisab Sustha Kaishore Abhiyan (MSSSKA),’ which provides for micronutrient supplementation to children from six months to 19 years of age, etc.,", he said.

"The State Government is going to launch the "Tripura Medical Tourism Policy' soon to promote Tripura as a centre of wellness tourism by incentivizing the setting up of ayurvedic parks, panchakarma centres, yoga and wellness retreats, and naturopathy centres,", he said.

Saha informed me that Tripura has been graded as a fast mover for effective implementation of the PM-GatiSakti Scheme for convergence. He also mentioned that a total of eight projects totaling Rs 109.19 crore have been identified and sent to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Government of India. Out of these, four projects totaling Rs 35.00 crore have been sanctioned by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. (ANI)

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