Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Wednesday strongly pressed for abolition of quota system in Agar export and also for setting up of a National Board on Agar.
The state government which had calculated the amount involved in Agar trades if flourished to its full bloom would be at about Rs 2000 crore , was pressing hard with the central government to relax the existing regulations and prohibitions of the Agar trades.
The Chief Minister pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi allowed to export 25,000 MT Agar and Agar cultivation would bring huge financial benefits to the Northeast since the soil and climate here are suitable for agar cultivation.
It may be mentioned here that while Tripura was once famous for Agar plantations , at present in the northern parts of the state there are several Agar farmer families-but they were all in the business in an unorganized manner. The state government plans to give boost to the Agar trades in an organized way.
In his address, Deb also requested the Centre to stop loading and unloading trucks coming from Bangladesh to Agartala and Agartala to Bangladesh at the border. He said, it would reduce the prices of various commodities.
The Chief Minister, who attended a meeting of the central government and state governments of the North East region chaired by Minister for DoNER G. Kisan Reddy in Guwahati, also demanded Vistadome Train service for Tripura.
The Chief Minister also mentioned that the land for setting up another airport in Tripura had already been identified and he had positive discussions with the Union Aviation Minister for undertaking the works soon.
Deb highlighted, the Prime Minister renamed the North East as Ashtalakshmi and the area is similar to the size of Uttar Pradesh and population is also less in the region. Besides, almost all our states are producing more electricity than the requirement.
He said, under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the North Eastern states would work together for a holistic growth of the region.
According to PIB, Governor of Arunachal Pradesh Brig. B D Mishra, Governor of Manipur L.A. Ganesan, CM of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu, CM of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio, CM of Manipur N. Biren Singh, Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for DoNER and Cooperation B.L. Verma, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhowmik, Union Minister of State for labour and employment Rameshwar Teli, minister of Tourism of Mizoram Robert Romawia Royte and Minister of Tourism, Sikkim- B.S Panth were also present in the event.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also attended the closing ceremony of North East Festival organised at Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati on Wednesday. President of India Ram Nath Kovind and other dignitaries were present.
