Tripura floods triggered devastation:Opposition calls for loan waiver, free ration

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, September 4, 2024

The opposition parties of Tripura on Wednesday put forward a slew of proposals and urged the government to take effective action in order to restore normal life in the flood-affected areas of the state. On the first day of the assembly session, Leader of Opposition Jitendra Choudhuri and Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman placed their proposals during the short discussion on the recent floods that left a trail of devastation all over the state. Both the leaders laid stress on the need for a special financial package to rebuild the state. Addressing the assembly, Choudhuri said the financial assistance for the families who had lost their dear ones in the floods and landslides should be increased significantly otherwise a government job should be given to the deserving persons in the family.

“For every person who lost their life in this disaster, their families should be compensated with ?50 lakh and provided with either a government job or a permanent source of income,” he said.Apart from that, he had asked for the formation of separate task forces in the district, subdivision, and block level to assess the damages caused by the floods. Demanding loan relief, he said, “All loans taken for agriculture, agriculture-related activities, and rubber cultivation from banks or other institutions should be waived off. If the complete waiver is not possible, a partial waiver or at least a moratorium period is required to be granted. People who have taken loans for economic activities such as buying commercial vehicles, e-rickshaws, and small businesses must get their loan interest written off.”

In rural areas, he said, “Each family should be provided 200 days of work under the MGNREGA scheme in the current financial year, with a fixed rate of Rs 600 daily wage per day per person to ensure that the people in the villages have money in their hands ahead of the festive season.” On the other hand, Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman demanded that for the next six months, free ration should be provided to all the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act. “People from all classes have been equally affected. All BPL and APL ration card holder families should be treated equally for this special relief,” said Barman.

The Congress MLA also criticized the delay in the utilization of the funds collected in the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund during this crisis. “We have been told that the total estimated losses due to the floods would be around Rs 15,000 crore. In comparison to the damage, a meager amount was released from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for relief works. We have only seen photos of the Chief Minister receiving cheques but haven’t seen a single photo of him donating money to the distressed people. Moreover, a special package from the central government is the need of the hour,” said Barman.He also urged the government to allow the MLAs to utilize the funds from MLA Area Development Funds to help people in their respective constituencies. He also alleged that in some areas a specific section of people are creating trouble in relief distribution works.

Proposals were also placed to find out long-term solutions to such disasters through initiatives like increasing the navigability of the rivers and enhancing technological interventions on early response and warning systems etc.Speaking in response, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said, “As many as 42,981 packets of food had been distributed when people were forced to live in relief camps. In areas that were cut off due to the landslides and excessive water-logging, special Air Force choppers were used for air-dropping of essentials and food. In addition, 4,500 packets were distributed by the food department in other areas.”

According to Chowdhury, as many as 2,057 government fair price shops had been swept away by the floods. “Despite all these, the food department had been working tirelessly to ensure uninterrupted supplies all over the state. The festive season is coming and we want to assure the people that their essential supplies will keep reaching them without any hindrance,” the Food Department Minister has said.The Minister also informed the house that Rs 17 crore 19 lakh 24 thousand was being spent to assist the construction workers with Rs 4,000 cash assistance. The total number of construction workers who will be benefited from the scheme stands at 42,981.

In the concluding statement, Parliamentary Affair Minister Ratan Lal Nath said, “All the constructive suggestions forwarded by the opposition parties would be considered very seriously. In the next cabinet meeting after the session, we shall look into all the proposals.”

Nath also shared details on the CMRF and said, “Over Rs 30 crore has been credited to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund as of 12 noon today. All the funds are being utilized transparently and some promised funds are yet to be cleared or credited in the account.” Other legislators, such as Ranjit Das, Swapna Debbarma, Kishore Barman, Shyamal Chakraborty, and Dipankar Sen, also discussed the issue.