Agartala/UNI: Tripura assembly today passed a motion seeking an increase of seat in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) from 28 to 50 with the aim to expedite the pace of development of indigenous communities of the state.
The motion was passed without opposition in the assembly.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had passed TTAADC formation bill under the sixth schedule of the Constitution in 1983 with 28 members.
Of late, various political parties, including Congress, had been demanding the increase in TTAADC seats to 50.
The ruling BJP legislator Arun Chandra Bhowmik moved the private member resolution in the house seeking 50 seats in TTAADC in view of the population growth, administrative expansion and development in tribal areas.
Supporting the motion, BJP MLA Sushanta Choudhury criticized the left front for its negative attitude towards tribals.
He mentioned that the CPI (M) MPs abstained from voting when the TTAADC bill was tabled in parliament. Despite repeated requests, the CPI(M) government did not hand over many departments to the Autonomous District Council in Tripura. As a result, the development of tribal people in Tripura suffered.
Tribal Welfare Minister and IPFT General Secretary Mevar Kr Jamatia supporting the motion said that the state government had no objection to the demands of increasing the TTAADC seats, rather it had been persuading the Centre for granting more autonomy to the tribal districts.
“The BJP-IPFT government has sent a proposal of over Rs 8000 crore to the Centre for development of TTAADC, which has been primarily granted and accepted," he informed.
"In addition, a medical college will be set up at ADC headquarters. Two among 18 Eklavya model residential schools have been sanctioned to be established in ADC area and four more schools are also in waiting to be sanctioned soon. A Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya will be also opened at Simna,” Jamatia said, elaborating the slew of development measures taken by the government.
Jamatia pointed out that the state council of ministers had proposed to elevate ADC's status to Tripura Territorial Council (TTC), besides increasing the members from the existing 28 to 50 and more provisions of empowerment, two months ago.
The proposal was sent to the Centre to get parliament's nod at the earliest.
The minister said that the decision was taken after a letter in this connection from the Union Home Ministry was received, recently. Besides the Central government, the recommendation of the state government was sent to Parliamentary Standing Committee, which in turn, would send it to the Home Ministry for moving the necessary amendment bill in parliament.
This January, the Union cabinet approved the amendment of Article 280 and Schedule VI of the Constitution to empower ten autonomous district councils of Tripura, Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya, following the demands of amendment to grant more financial and administrative power to ADCs of the northeast.
The minister, however, pointed out that nearly 68 per cent of the total geographical area of Tripura fell under Schedule VI, covering almost all eight districts. Earlier, the state government had also proposed the Centre to rename it, considering practicality.
After the amendment of the Constitution, the Finance Commission has been specifically mandated to recommend devolution of financial resources to the ADCs as well as the villages and urban local bodies that fall under Schedule VI to enable the tribal population of the region to fulfill their longstanding aspirations, Jamatia added.
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