Agartala, Jan 30: A high-level meeting between the state government and the visiting 16th Finance Commission was held in the presence of Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha at the Secretariat on Thursday.

During the meeting, Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha handed over a memorandum to the Chairman of the Finance Commission, Dr. Arvind Panagariya, on behalf of the state government.

At the beginning of the meeting, Chief Minister Prof. (Dr.) Manik Saha warmly welcomed the Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission, Dr. Arvind Panagariya, along with four other members of the Commission, by presenting them with the traditional state risa and garlands.

Besides the Chief Minister, the meeting was attended by Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy, Agriculture and Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath, Transport and Tourism Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, Industries and Commerce Minister Santana Chakma, Social Welfare and Social Education Minister Tinku Roy, Forest Minister Animesh Debbarma, Tribal Welfare Minister Bikas Debbarma, and Cooperative Minister Shukla Charan Noatia. 

The Finance Commission members present included A. N. Jha, Annie George Mathew, Dr. Manoj Panda, and Soumyakanti Ghosh, along with Commission Secretary Ritwik Pandey, Joint Secretary Rahul Jain, Director K. Balaji, Joint Director Kumar Vivek, Deputy Director Sandeep Kumar, and other officials. 

Additionally, Chief Secretary J. K. Sinha, Finance Secretary Apurba Roy, Secretaries Abhishek Singh, Kiran Gitte, and Brijesh Pandey, along with the Secretary to the Chief Minister, Dr. P. K. Chakraborty, and other high-ranking officials of the state administration, were present at the meeting.