Agartala, Aug 18: Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on Tuesday emphasized maintaining transparency in developmental works and timely completion of various projects.
He also stressed that benefits of various initiatives need to be delivered to the marginal section of society through proper coordination between the administration and public representatives. He also called for identifying problems at grassroots and addressing them accordingly.
The Chief Minister was speaking at the state-level meeting of DISHA Committee for the 2026-27 year held at the Secretariat. He expressed satisfaction as most of the decisions of the DISHA Committee's previous meeting have already been implemented.
The Chief Minister said, face-to-face interaction between the administration and the public representatives enhances transparency in work and reduces the gap between two sides. Taking note of the fact that most of the previous decisions have been materialised, the Chief Minister instructed the concerned functionaries to have review meetings regularly.
In context of the central schemes he said the state's progress in most cases is at par with the national average. But this does not give any room for complacency. Benefits of the schemes have to be delivered to the people in time by expediting works. At the same time due awareness should be spread among the people about various schemes.
At the DISHA Committee meeting the Chief Minister deliberated at length on various healthcare services. He instructed the concerned officials to take necessary measures to ensure that the beneficiaries easily get the benefits of Mukhyamantri Jan Arogya Yojana and Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. He said, although health insurance schemes offer almost 100 per cent coverage, it is to be ensured that people have clearer ideas about such schemes.
He emphasised clarifying about the type of diseases covered under insurance schemes to the common people. In this regard he advised to put the list of diseases covered on display at different hospitals and use QR Code facility. If this is done, relatives of the patients could easily figure out which are the diseases that can be treated in that particular hospital just by scanning the QR code.
At the meeting, the Health secretary informed that till now under the AB-PMJAY 16,66,870 Ayushman Cards have been issued and 7,00,922 families have come under the scheme. Similarly, under Mukhyamantri Jan Arogya Yojana, 6,36,527 cards have been issued and 2,86,820 families have come under its coverage.
During the discussion on various programmes of the social welfare and social education department, the Chief Minister emphasised infrastructural improvement of Anganwadi Centres. He said, comparatively deteriorating centres have to be identified and measures have to be taken for their renovation or re-construction. At the same time plan should be taken to shift the Anganwadi centres on rented lands to their own land.
He advised the officials to upgrade the infrastructure of Anganwadi centres gradually on the line of Model Anganwadi Centres of the state. Prevention of child marriage also found place in the discussion. In this regard the Chief Minister advised the administration to be more active and the concerned department to spread awareness on the issue.
The Chief Minister advised to encourage the women associated with SHGs through TRLM to produce various goods in greater volume. Not limiting the success of Swachh Bharat Mission to village and common masses, he advised to expand its idea to the government organisations and offices. He called upon all to maintain cleanliness, proper waste management and healthy environment in government offices.
In the beginning of the meeting, secretary of power department Abhishek Singh briefed the Chief Minister about the progress of various central schemes implemented through various departments. Afterwards, the secretaries and officials of education, health, industries and commerce, PWD, agriculture, forest, and social welfare and social education departments deliberated on the achievements made by their respective departments in implementation of various central schemes. Status of the projects in rural development, housing, drinking water, urban development, sanitation, agriculture, skill development sectors came up for discussion in the meeting.
The concerned official informed that under PMAY-G 99 per cent of the approved 3.76 lakh houses have been completed. Under the Jal Jeevan Mission drinking water connections (FHTC) have been ensured for 6,24,477 rural households which accounts for 83.17 per cent achievement.
In case of Swachh Bharat Mission, the achievement of the state is noteworthy. Discussions also hovered around application of modern technology in agriculture, irrigation, expansion of market for agricultural produces and market linkage through ENAM. Updates were given on the progress of central schemes on rural road and infrastructure development. Regarding PMGSY and other national highway works, the CM instructed the officials to identify field level issues, if any, and take necessary action for their resolution.
In today's meeting, the chief secretary J.K Sinha said, detailed discussions have taken place on central schemes in this meeting. Through such discussions proper observation can be done regarding pace of implementation, maintenance of transparency and service delivery to the target people.
He said that all the departments have done well as far as implementation of central schemes is concerned; adding that whenever the central government reviews the progress of its scheme implementations, Tripura always secures a good recognition and awards. This is a reflection of good governance in the state. He assured that the issues pointed out by the public representatives, will be given due consideration by the government and necessary action will be taken if needed.
Public representatives including MP Kriti Debi Debbarma, Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy, Higher Education Minister Kishore Barman, MLA Manoj Kanti Deb, MLA Antara Deb Sarkar, MLA Birajit Sinha and MLA Shailendra Chandra Nath shared their opinions on different matters.
The highlights of the meeting were review of central schemes and proper service delivery under these schemes, resolution of field level problems, maintenance of transparency and coordination between the administration and public representatives.