AT Photo: Jyotiraditya Scindia addressing press at the civil secretariat, Agartala
Agartala, Nov 15: Minister for Development of North East Region (DoNER) Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday said that central allocation for the North Eastern states has increased four times in the past ten years if compared to the UPA regime.
Briefing the press at the civil secretariat, Agartala, the Union Minister said, “The North East is being seen as the new growth engine of the country. The Prime Minister has resolved to bring in rapid development in the North Eastern region which was earlier neglected by the previous regimes. Before 2014, the budget for the entire North East used to be around Rs. 24,000 crores while now the total budget stands at Rs.1 lakh 3 thousand crore. If calculated, it is four times of what the Congress-led UPA regime used to spend for this region.
Speaking about Tripura, Scindia said, “GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) of Tripura stands at 90,000 crores which is witnessing a rise of nine percent. The per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is also on the rise with an impressive rate of 15 percent. The per capita income of the state now stands at Rs. 1,60,000 which is a significant indicator of the growth and progress this state has witnessed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha.”
On the industrial front, he said, “We have set a target to enhance the contribution of GSDP to 50 percent here in the state. In view of this, we are organising multiple investment summits and rallies in different metro cities. To be specific, in an investment summit recently held at Bangalore, we have received expressions of interest worth Rs. 9,600 crore for investment in the NE region. I have invited Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha to attend some of the industrial summits going to happen in metro cities to woo investment for the state.”
Noting that tax devolution for Tripura has also witnessed a massive increase, he said, “Between 2004 to 2014, Tripura got a total of Rs. 8,900 crores as tax devolution which roughly makes Rs. 900 crores per year. In the last ten years, the total tax devolution stands at Rs. 47,160 crores which in simple calculation tells you that annually the state is getting somewhere near Rs. 5,000 crores. In 2024-25, the state is set to get Rs. 8,823 crore which is equal to the total funds received under this head in ten years of Congress regime.”
The Minister also informed the media persons that Tripura received Rs. 62,000 crores as grant in aid, which is double of the funds received during the previous regime.
On the connectivity front, he said, within the next three years the entire North East will be connected through the railway network.
The Minister also announced that a total of 119 mobile phone towers will be installed in different parts of Tripura to take 4G connectivity to the saturation level.
