Tripura CM criticises Congress ministers at Centre

Agartala, Feb 21 (UNI) Tripura Chief Minister and CPI(M) polit bureau member Manik Sarkar today accused the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre of slow development in the Northeast and criticised the central ministers for making negative remarks against the state government's performance.

Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Sarkar said the Centre had, time and again, appreciated the performance of Tripura in the past four years in implementating development projects and had urged the other states to follow Tripura's footsteps, but now they had now reversed their standpoint.

''Infrastructural development and improvement of roadways, extension of railway lines and upgradation of airports are the Centre's duty but unfortunately, despite repeated requests it has neither sanctioned the projects nor released the allocated funds,'' Mr Sarkar complained, adding that the Congress ministers, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had knowledge of the development works taken up by Left Front government in Tripura.

He further assured that the Left Front government would remain in power for sixth time with more seats and believed, Left Front fulfilled the commitment of the people and tried to upgrade the living standard of the common mass, which assured the party to get back in power.

Mr Sarkar rued that the northeast was faced by an uneven pace of development in 61 years of India's Independence, which created a sense of alienation among a section of backward group and gave the birth of insurgency.

He, however, asserted that the Left Front would put emphasis on development of agriculture, small and medium scale industries as well as ensure the security of the common people.

''The peak hour power deficiency in Tripura was only 15 MW even a few years ago, but now it has come to 55-60 MW and that clearly indicates the industrial growth of the state,'' Mr Sarkar added.

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