Tripura ex-chief secy GK Rao appointed administrator of TTAADC

Agartala: Former Tripura chief secretary G Kameshwara Rao took over as the administrator of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), day after the tenure of the executive committee was dissolved.

Tripura governor Ramesh Bais nominated Rao as the administrator soon after Rao tendered his resignation as member of the Police Accountability Commission late on Sunday night to the chief secretary.

Earlier, Rao had served as state election commissioner (SEC), chief information commissioner of the Right to Information (RTI) commission and police accountability commission. Now, it is his fourth assignment after retirement provided by the state government.

Speaking with reporters, deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma said that the tenure of the TTAADC administrator was till May 17, however the elections could not take place due following the outbreak of coronavirus.

The Cabinet on May 12 had decided to dissolve the Tripura ADC on May 17 and the Governor of Tripura — Ramesh Bais will take charge for a tenure of six months until the elections are announced.

“The state government will do full cooperation for the development of the TTAADC. It has been long since the ADC was formed but very less development work was carried out by the committee,” Dev Varma said.

He also said that for the development TTAADC the most important thing is protection of the tribal rights and development of tribal rights. “We will create an action plan so that work continues even as the outbreak of COVID-19 continues by maintaining the social distancing and using face masks,” Dev Varma added.

Speaking further, he said that to support the indigenous population in addition to the assistance provided to all, Rs 500 to each MGNREGA job cards holder in 12 aspiration blocks was provided Rs 4.60 cr from the chief minister relief fund.

The blocks Ganganagar, Raishyabari, Bomki, Korbok among others are backward blocks. “We want the elections to take place as soon as possible. The ADC is the child of the constitution and nothing can be done out of the six schedule of the constitution,” Dev Varma added.

The TTAADC is spread into 68% of the total geographical area of the state and is home to over one-third of the total population of Tripura.

Earlier in January during the sixth session of the 12th Tripura Legislative Assembly, the resolution to increase the seats of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) from 30 to 50 was unanimously passed.