Many were so far under the impression that Zero point of a place – a town or city- from where the distance of another location , another town or city is calculated starts from the Headpost office location. In that case distance from Agartala to Udaipur, say 50 kms, should be calculated from the Post Office Chowmuhani post office to entry of the lake town of the state. Many just ignored such a thought and remained blissfully unaware- it made no difference to their life.
However, Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha came out with a novel idea on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur- the architect of Tripura and visionary king which not only would identify the Zero point in this old city but also turn the place a historically important tourist spot.
On the occasion of Maharaja Bir Bikram’s 114th birth anniversary Dr Saha in a state level celebration at Rabindra sata Barshiki Bhawan said, “in Agartala the zero milestone is actually near Masjid Patti in the city. And there is an Island. I have talked to my cabinet members and it was decided that a statue of Maharaja Bir Bikram will be installed at the zero milestone”.
Not only the statue, but also with the support of the Agartala Municipal Corporation the place would be developed to a tourist spot. “The entire location would be given a befitting look”, said Dr Saha.
He also said that steps were in the pipeline for giving a facelift to the Royal cremation ground at Battala.
The Chief Minister also took a dig at the previous Left Front government for ignoring the ‘development of the tribal people of the state’ and pointed out that it was at the initiative of the BJP government many indigenous items got national recognition- like that of Risha.
Dr Saha also said that proposals were made to the union government for increasing the number of Ekalavya Residential Schools as well as making the TTAADC seats 50 -in place of 28 (Elected). The matter is now pending with the Parliament standing committee.
Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, Minister for Information and Cultural Affairs Sushanta Chowdhury, Mayor Dipak Majumder and Director of ICA department Ratan Biswas were present in the programme.
