Agartala: The new council of ministers on Tuesday approved a host of decisions during the second meeting of the Tripura cabinet here.
The significant decisions included formulating an electric vehicle policy for the next five years and setting a procurement target of 20,000 tonnes of paddy from farmers in lieu of Rs 19.40 MSP (Minimum Support Price).
Elaborating the decisions, Tripura Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, who is also the cabinet spokesman, said the electric vehicle policy is adopted with the objective to create a pollution-free society.
“In the northeast region, Meghalaya and Assam are the first two states to formulate Electric Vehicle policies. We have also approved a policy pertaining to electric vehicles that seeks to transform at least 10 per cent of the existing vehicles into Electric Vehicles. There are 60,000 small, medium and heavy vehicles in the state. Altogether 14 states in the country have so far adopted Electric Vehicle policy in the country,” said Chowdhury.
On the paddy procurement drive, Chowdhury said, “The cabinet has approved the proposal to procure 20,000 mt of paddy directly from the farmers at a flat MSP of Rs 19.40. A total of 32 makeshift procurement centers will be set up for the procurement drive. A sum of Rs 45 crore has been allocated for the drive for which the process will begin from June.”
According to the minister, after the formation of the BJP-IPFT government, over Rs 192 crore has been spent on purchasing paddy directly from the farmers every harvest season.
Besides, the state cabinet has decided to give free land to tea garden workers as per the new welfare scheme and six posts of motor vehicle inspector have also been created, he added.
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