Agartala: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at Tripura’s erstwhile Left Front government for failing to stop “corruption” and carry out development but praised incumbent Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s performance and his suggestions that brought changes in a key housing scheme benefiting many poor people across India.
Addressing a public meeting at Swami Vivekananda Stadium here, Modi also complained that the media was not giving coverage to the government’s achievements.
During his 24-minute speech, Modi thanked Deb, saying it was because of him that the central government introduced changes in the criteria of Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) and modified the definition of ‘Kutcha house’.
The Prime Minister said earlier houses of semi-permanent structures were considered as ‘Pucca house’, thus denying benefits of the scheme to a large number of poor people despite having mud houses.
“Biplab Deb came to me with his argument to consider houses of semi-permanent structure as Kutcha houses. The central government reviewed his proposal and accepted it. Accordingly, the definition of kutcha and pucca houses has been changed and 1.80 lakh beneficiaries of Tripura were sanctioned houses under PMAY in a year that also saw the benefits extended to lakhs of people of the country,” Modi underlined.
He expressed his displeasure about the media and said, “The media friends are not always giving due coverage to the good things done by the government. Double engine (Same party, in this case, the BJP, leading the coalition governments both at the centre and the state) growth means united effort towards prosperity, of which Tripura is an example.”
Flaying the previous Left Front government in the state, the Prime Minister said, “The vehicle of corruption was not stopped and the development vehicle was put on break during their rule. After thelast election when the BJP led government came to power, I promised to present to you HIRA
model – Highway, Internet way, Railway and Airways and the results started yielding now.”
Appreciating the implementation of the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliance) initiative by the state government, Modi pointed out that homegrown pineapple, jackfruit, canted lemon, canted rice,
organic produce and bamboo products of Tripura have not only been dominating the national
markets but also are valued globally.
The market is expanding for bamboo bottles and other handicraft products of Tripura, he stated.
Through Kisan rail, Tripura is exporting organic vegetables and fruits across the country. Tripura
can also play an important role by providing an alternative to single-use plastic and a huge market is
being created in the country for those products, Prime Minister mentioned adding that work is
underway to develop Tripura as a gateway to the northeast.
