Assam's Barak Valley seeks Tripura's help

Agartala, Sep 17 (UNI) The people of Barak Valley in south Assam have urged Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar to discuss transport problems of the region with the North Eastern Council (NEC).

Speaking at the first North Eastern Regional Conference organised by the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) here today, the chief minister said besides Barak Valley, Tripura and Mizoram were suffering from serious bottlenecks of surface transport especially during every monsoon.

''I have already discussed these issues several times with the Centre's concerned ministries as well as with the NEC. Some positive initiatives for improving road connectivity have been taken up recently but this area requires more attention,'' Mr Sarkar underlined.

He pointed out that he had received a memorandum from the Barak Valley stating that the people were faced with transport disruption and despite constant requests for construction of an alternative National Highway, nothing satisfactory had been done so far.

Mr Sarkar, however, requested mediapersons to highlight the core problems of the NE states at the national level so that policy makers could understand the problems faced by the region.

He was dissatisfied over the attitude of the Centre towards the NE and urged the people of the region to put pressure on the Centre to consider their situation.

Besides, IJU president Suresh Akhouri sought the state government's interference for socio-economic development of the journalists of the region and urged it to direct newspaper owners to implement the media wage board recommendations.

UNI