AGARTALA, Aug 28 - Clearing all doubts on Twipraland demand, Union Minister for Tribal Welfare Jual Oram on Monday said the Centre would not support such a demand as raised by a political party.
�We are not in favour of creating another State by bifurcating Tripura but there may be a State Autonomous Development Council (SADC) in place of the present arrangement of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC)�, Oram told the media in the BHP party headquarters here.
The Union Minister said the present arrangement has failed to address the problems of indigenous people as the State�s lone autonomous district council has no financial and administrative power.
�If the State Government proposes to convert TTAADC into SADC for overall development of tribal people, I will take up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and get it done at the earliest�, he said.
The Tribal Welfare Ministry has been releasing substantial fund to the State but it could not produce Utilisation Certificate (UC) leading to slow down in flow of fund in a particular project, he said.
Citing example of releasing fund by his Ministry, Oram said an amount of Rs 24 crore was given to the State during 2015-16 FY for overall development of Eklavya Model Residential Schools but the State could not submit UC yet. �In the year 2016-17 FY, Rs 48 crore was given for three Eklavya Schools but UC has not been submitted by the State. If you can�t provide UC, how come you expect to get more fund for improvement in these schools�, he pointed out.
�I arrived here as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi�s plan of making a New India by 2020. Here I found people those who are supposed to get Central Government benefits like PMAY and IHHL are deprived due to the partisan attitude of the State Government�, he alleged.
Earlier in the day, the Union Minister addressed a rally in a remote area of Dhalai district at Chailengtha where he sharply criticised the State Government for failing to fulfill the aspirations of the people.
