AGARTALA, May 4 - Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Friday attended a high level meeting of all CMs of Northeastern States convened by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Delhi.
The main objective of the meeting was to push the Act East Policy for overall development of the country�s so far �backward� region, a State Government official said.
In the meeting, the Chief Minister raised various issues like strengthening of bilateral ties with Bangladesh, connectivity development and infrastructure building before connecting the region with South East Asian nations.
Earlier, the Chief Minister called on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi on Thursday and sought for financial assistance from the Centre for various urgent matters including implementation of 7th CPC.
In course of the meeting, the CM also demanded pre-devaluation of 14th Finance Commission for the State to tide over the financial crunch, according to an official release.
The State requires a special fund of Rs 1,100 crore to implement 7th CPC for two lakh government employees and pensioners. After giving a patienct hearing, Jaitley assured to do the needful so that 7th CPC is implemented as BJP had promised to do it during the Assembly elections campaign.
Deb also met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in his official residence. The Chief Minister discussed various issues ranging from internal security to border management in the contest of the state.
�There has been a discussion to facilitate clearance of movement of heavy materials and equipments of various PSUs such ONGC via Ashuganj port (Bangladesh) into Agartala directly to the godowns as per the protocol adopted for FCI trucks in 2015 under which it is permitted to take trucks through prescribed routes inside Agartala and escorted to go-down directly. This will save the time as well as the transport cost required for transshipment at the ICP�, said a press release issued by the CMO.