Tripura Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha on Friday said that he has requested the Central Government to increase the funding cap for Externally Aided Projects to avoid disruption of development works.

“At present, we are allowed to receive up to Rs 4,000 crore under externally aided projects, which is not sufficient for the state. I have written letters and spoken to the Central Government, requesting an increase in this cap so that development works are not halted midway. Development is going on in full swing across the state”, said Dr Saha.

He also criticized the previous government for attempting to destroy religious tourism sites and royal heritage and said that the BJP-led government is now restoring and developing them in a new way.

The Chief Minister also said that the previous government had ignored development of Tourism sector. But the present state government has been working to promote the state’s tourism with an aim to generate employment.

He accompanied by Tourism minister Sushanta Chowdhury laid the foundation stones for the development of tourism infrastructure at Kasbeswari Temple in Kamalasagar and Chaturdash Devta Temple in Khayerpur, from Kasba temple premises under Sepahijala District.

At the event, the Chief Minister said that earlier it was difficult to reach the Kasbeshwari Temple from the national highway due to poor road conditions. Therefore, he spoke to the secretaries and engineers of the Public Works Department for the development of this road. Accordingly, this 13-kilometer-long road was developed at a cost of about Rs 34 crore.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly emphasized the importance of infrastructure development. In line with his direction, we are also working with special emphasis on infrastructure development. In this year's budget, about Rs 7,000 crore has been allocated for infrastructure development,” said Dr. Saha.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Saha said that in addition to ADB, important projects are being implemented with the financial assistance of the World Bank.

MLA Ratan Chakraborty virtually joined the event. Sepahijala Zilla Sabhadhipati Supriya Das Dutta, MLA Antara Sarkar Deb, Secretary of the Tourism Department Uttam Kumar Chakma, Sepahijala District Magistrate Dr. Siddharth Shiv Jaiswal, Superintendent of Police Bijay Debbarma, Tourism Director Prashant Badal Negi, and other dignitaries were present.