AGARTALA, May 7 (TIWN): Tripura Government demanded for the necessary action to be taken for the earlv approval of the Project for augmentation of road infrastructure in border areas for development of Tripura. In this regard a proposal was already sent to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.PWD Minister Badal Chowdhury requested Central Govt to help Tripura.

With reference to the meetings held in the Department of Road Transport & Highways (DORT&H) on 2nd April and 28th April, 2009 for augmenting the road infrastructure in the border areas of the country by interalia connecting the entire border District Headquarters with two lane highways, the proposal for Tripura was initiated.

Consequent to the meeting convened by MHA (Department of Border Management) at North Block, New Delhi on August 21, 2009 under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary, Border Management, Government of India with representatives of MoRT&H, PWD (Tripura), BSF, Ministry of Defence and others, the proposal of Government of Tripura was appreciated and approved in principle vide Minutes of the meeting circulated vide letter No.L2/B/2009- BADP (PP) dated 27th August 2009 of MHA.

The Project Proposal envisaging improvement of 10 (ten) roads of total 444.47 km length to 2-lane standard for preliminary cost of Rs. 1009.55 crore was also sent to the Department of Border Management, MHA vide letter No.23 (1)-MC-PWD/2009 dated 24.10.2009, along with the list of roads and a map showing the proposed roads and locations of LC Stations. Subsequently, MHA vide D.O. No. |2/B/2009-BADP (Pt) dated 02-12-2010 has intimated that the project received from the State Governments in this regard had been forwarded to the MoRT&H for examination for  further necessary action. Since then the State Government has been approaching MoRT&H for early approval of the project for Tripura.

While Central Government told that non-availability of agency to construct new roads and maintain existing roads in the northeast and various other technical problems prompted the central government to consider constituting the corporation.

Earlier responding to the state government's demand to declare another national highway (310 km) connecting Tripura's Sabroom border town and Assam's small township Kukital, the MoRTH in May 2014declared 157 km portion of the Sabroom-Kukital road as National Highway-208

It is to be mentioned that establishing reliable road connectivity to border and tribal areas is essential for ensuring balanced socio-economic development and protection of national interest. Thus all the projects proposed would also help the State Government to combat adverse situations, help to maintain the law and order and contribute towards the overall development of the State.