AGARTALA
: Tripura chief minister
Biplab Kumar Deb said in the assembly on Wednesday that the
Union
ministry of water resources has decided to support the rejuvenation of five major rivers of the state, to increase the flow of water and ensure better management of surface water sources.
Deb said, "Our government has chalked out a plan to increase the navigability of five rivers including Howrah and Gomati. The initiative has been taken to harvest water for drinking and other storage purposes." He informed the House that a proposal on the plan has already been sent to the ministry of water resources and Union minister
Uma Bharati has assured to extend her support to the state in the matter.
Deb pointed out that the government has taken note of the poor condition of 10 major rivers of Tripura, along with hundreds of their tributaries. A large number of natural waterbodies across the state have become the dumping ground for wastes, thus posing a grave threat to the aquatic biodiversity, Deb said, adding that the state government has prioritized the cleaning of these rivers to ensure better surface water management.
"Agartala and other places across the state suffer from waterlogging and flash floods during the monsoon, which is one of our biggest challenges now. Cleaning of rivers and constructing of storm drains will not solve these problem. We need to develop better water harvesting mechanism," Deb stated.
Declaring his mission to turn Tripura into a 'model state', the chief minister said a committee will be formed to ensure the implementation of the seventh central pay commission recommendations. The committee will submit its report within 90 days after which all state government employees and pensioners will get the benefit of upgraded pay and allowances as per the recommendations, he added.
Deb also said the state will give free
LPG
connections to 3.58 lakh poor families within the next one hundred days. He added that as announced in the Union budget, the banks operating in the state will bring the poor people under the health insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh with a minimum deposit of Rs 12 within the next ninety days. He further pointed out that the entire peasant community will be brought under the Prime Minister's Agricultural Crop Insurance coverage within the next 100 days.
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