TRIPURA: Q&A WITH CM BIPLAB DEB
This March, 47-year-old BIPLAB DEB led the BJP to a historic victory over the CPI(M), bringing to an end the 25-year-long rule of the Left in Tripura. However, the last six months have not been easy for the chief minister, who frequently made headlines for the wrong reasons, with his opinions on the internet’s origin in the Mahabharata or Diana Hayden’s insufficiently Indian beauty. Unperturbed, the CM says his priority is to “transform Tripura”. In an exclusive interview with india today Group Editorial Director RAJ CHENGAPPA and Senior Associate Editor KAUSHIK DEKA, the Tripura CM shares his vision and blueprint for development of the northeastern state. Excerpts:
Q. What are your priorities for the state’s development?
My focus is on agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, forests, fisheries and tourism. The Food Corporation of India will now procure rice from Tripura. This did not happen earlier. The next goal is to produce an additional 20,000 metric tonnes of fish to meet the requirement of the state and stop the outflow of Rs 1,600 crore. We are providing loans for setting up smokehouses, which will improve the quality of rubber produced in the state. This will earn the state an additional Rs 65 crore. We are also promoting spiritual tourism and building the required infrastructure for that.
Q. You’ve said Tripura’s drug problem is bigger than Punjab’s.
In the past six months, we have seized over 50,000 kg of cannabis worth Rs 100 crore. Under Manik Sarkar’s rule, Tripura became a big corridor for production and supply of cannabis and banned cough syrup Phensedyl. We busted several illegal manufacturing units of Phensedyl, seized lakhs of bottles and arrested over 200 people.
Q. What about industrialisation and trade?
We have started single-window clearance in the industrial sector. The bridge over the Feni river, once completed in December 2019, will connect Tripura with Chittagong seaport in Bangladesh, which is just 67 km away. This will make Tripura the trade corridor of the Northeast.
My job is to provide transparency, security and law and order to improve the trade environment in the state.
Q. The BJP and its ally, the IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura), are on the war path in the state.
In politics, nobody cedes their space. It’s a healthy competition between the two parties, not a rift.
Q. Literacy levels are high in Tripura, but so is the unemployment rate. How do you reconcile this?
Our government will create an IT city here and appeal to the 12,000 engineers from the state who are working outside to return home. ISRO has already set up a technology incubation centre in Agartala. We have set up one BPO and one software technology park. Several more are in the offing.
Q. What would you rate as your biggest achievements in the past six months of your chief ministership?
For the development of Tripura, our first priority was to rid the state of corruption and bring efficiency and transparency in the system of governance. We cleaned up the recruitment processes for government jobs, launched e-tendering for infrastructure projects and e-stamping for land and property transactions. A biometric attendance system was introduced in government offices. We are also trying to make policing efficient and transparent. Q. Little is known about Biplab Deb the person. Is it true that you were a gym instructor as many seem to think? I was born in Jamjuri village in Tripura. My father was a pharmacist and among the founding members of the Jan Sangh in the state. I’ve attended RSS shakhas from my childhood. After graduation in 1999, I left for Delhi where I worked for Suruchi Prakashan, the publishing unit of the RSS. Then I worked with Govindacharya and Rita Verma. During my earlier days in Delhi, I used to exercise in a gym, but was not an instructor. I don’t have time to hit the gym now but still do 150 push-ups daily.
For full text of the interview, log on to indiatoday.in