Development / Tripura

Agartala, Jan. 4: A major expansion and infrastructure upgradation drive has been taken up at the Agartala airport, the only one in the state. Located close to Bangladesh, the distance between the edge of the runway and the international border is 150 yards, the airport will be made equipped to handle international flights. Senior airport manager Prashanta Kar said the airport was built by the British during World War II but its importance grew after Independence as Tripura lost access to the heartland following the emergence of the then East Pakistan.

Kar said the last phase of modernisation...

New Delhi, Jan. 1: Two government projects in the Northeast, one in Assam and the other in Tripura, have been declared “success stories”, having achieved their “intended goals”. Making it to the Planning Commission’s list of top 20 “success stories” are the rubber plantations of Tripura and a landmark irrigation project of the Assam government.

Originally launched to wean tribals from jhum cultivation, the rubber plantations have now earned Tripura the sobriquet of “India’s second rubber capital”. Kerala leads the sector in terms of production.

Successful Governance Initiatives and Best...

AGARTALA, Dec 28 — As the clickety clicks of the rail wheels reverberated in the high hills of Langtarai range and thousands of people rejoined. Railway Minister Nitish Kumar flagged off the first train on Kumarghat-Manu sector in North district on Friday afternoon. This was the beginning of a new era of communication in this hilly land-locked state. With the opening of the 21-kilometre rail track that pierced through high hills and deep forests, the total length of the rail line in the state stands at 64 km. And it took long 38 years of wait, speculations and movements at various levels. Now...

AGARTALA, July 15 ? The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd has found high quality gas reserves at Maicherra in Belonia subdivision. This will be first well in South Tripura district from where natural gas can be explored. The area comes under Uttarkholabaria gram panchayat. An ONGCL official here said the Maicherra gas is of high quality and according to preliminary estimate about 2-lakh cubic metre of gas can be explored a day from here. The ONGCL begun drilling in February last after a survey indicated gas reserve in the area. After drilling of about 2700 metre the gas was found. Presently...

AGARTALA, July 9 : Due to a massive landslip on the railway line between Bandarkhal and Damcherra about 75 kilometres from Badarpur, rail link between Tripura and Assam has been snapped. The two-kilometre stretch of railway line between Bandarkhal and Damcherra was washed away by the sliding mud and rocks from the adjoining hills early Sunday morning. ?It would take at least three weeks to restore the railway link between Tripura and Assam,? sources said. Though restoration works have started from both sides, but due to incessant rainfall for the past two days, works could only progress at a...

AGARTALA, July 7 ? The arrival of quality silk from abroad threatens of squeeze out of the market looms large the silk farmers of the State. Sericulture Minister Ramendra Chandra Debnath speaking to the reporters at the Secretariat on Saturday said, due to fresh arrival of quality silk from abroad, the local producers have been badly affected as the foreign silk are available at a price much lower than the local ones. He said, ?We were forced to reduce the prices of the local silk so that they could compete in the markets with the foreign ones. Accordingly, we have reduced the prices of the...

AGARTALA, June 18 ? The Tripura government will export horticultural products to Nepal, informed State Cooperative Minister Niranjan Debbarma. He said the State Apex Cooperative Society will export the products to Nepal. According to the minister, 12 metric tonnes of processed foods mostly pineapple and orange jams and jelly in tinned containers will be despatched to Nepal. A total of 16,000 MT of raw horticulture items will also be sent to other north-eastern States. Debbarma said, to facilitate the storage of horticultural and agricultural products a new cold-storage of 3000 MT capacity will...

GUWAHATI, June 12 ? Internationally reputed experts on forest resources and scientists have recommended some urgent steps to be taken by North Eastern States to mitigate the ?catastrophic famine? that is likely to hit the region subsequent to ?gregarious flowering of bamboo? predicted to occur during 2005-2007. Scientists have predicted that gregarious flowering of bamboo will occur in an estimated area of 18,000 square kilometre in the States of Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and parts of Assam and Meghalaya during 2005-2007. The epicentre of bamboo flowering will be Mizoram. It is calculated that...

AGARTALA, April 21? Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has appealed to Union Government to include this land-locked State in the proposed South Asian trilateral highway system linking Thailand, Myanmar and India. Sarkar, who is presently in Delhi in connection with CPM Politburo meeting, met External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday and discussed several issues relating to Tripura?s inclusion in the international transport communication network and trade with the neighbouring countries. Sarkar pointed out that recently foreign ministries of India, Thailand and Myanmar agreed to...

AGARTALA, April 10 ? The ongoing railway construction works in Tripura once again suffered a major blow when suspected NLFT militants abducted eight employees from a construction camp near Manu in Dhalai district. Sources said, the incident happened at around 5.30 pm on April 8 last when the workers had just returned to their camps at Jarulcherra. A group of 10 to 12 armed NLFT militants attired in olive green fatigues reached the Jarulcherra camp and asked the workers to come out of the camp. The militants at gun point took away with them the eight workers. Among the abducted persons, six...