Following his appointment as the Guardian Minister for Unakoti district by Tripura Chief Minister Prof. Dr Manik Saha, Tourism and Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury paid his first official visit to the district on Wednesday and chaired a comprehensive review meeting at the Conference Hall of the Circuit House in Kailashahar.
The meeting was attended by Unakoti District Magistrate Megha Jain, Superintendent of Police Rishabh, Kailashahar Municipal Council Chairperson Chapala Rani Debroy, Unakoti Zilla Sabhadhipati Amalendu Das, Gournagar Panchayat Samiti Vice-Chairman Mohammad Badruzzaman, MDCs Bipul Debbarma and Ratish Tripura, Kumarghat Panchayat Samiti Chairperson Sumati Das, Transport Commissioner Subrata Chowdhury, along with senior officials from various government departments.
Officials from the Power, Education, Tourism, Public Works (PWD), Drinking Water and Sanitation, and several other departments presented progress reports highlighting the status of developmental and public welfare projects in the district.
Addressing the media after the review meeting, which lasted for more than four and a half hours, Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said the primary objective behind appointing Guardian Ministers for all eight districts was to closely monitor the implementation of government welfare and development programmes. He said the ministers have been entrusted with assessing whether departmental works are progressing properly, identifying bottlenecks, reviewing stalled projects, and submitting detailed reports to the Chief Minister.
The minister described the review meeting as successful but expressed dissatisfaction over the functioning of a few departments. In particular, he criticized the Tourism Department and the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department after finding discrepancies between their official reports and the actual ground situation. He sought explanations from departmental officials and expressed serious concern over the inconsistencies.
During the meeting, Gournagar Panchayat Samiti Vice-Chairman Mohammad Badruzzaman highlighted the acute drinking water crisis in rural areas under the Gournagar Block. He pointed out that although pipelines had been laid to households nearly three years ago, water supply through those pipelines has yet to begin. He also raised concerns over the dilapidated 7.5 kilometers stretch of road from the Old Dak Bungalow in Kailashahar to Rangauti, stating that it has remained unfit for traffic for a long time despite repeated demands for repairs.
Tipra-Motha MDCs Bipul Debbarma and Ratish Tripura also raised concerns over the poor condition of roads in several ADC villages across Unakoti district. They alleged that many roads have not been repaired for over a decade despite repeated representations to the concerned authorities. They further stated that the condition of the National Highway passing through the area is also deteriorating.
When the minister sought explanations from the officials concerned regarding these issues, they reportedly failed to provide satisfactory answers. Expressing strong displeasure, Sushanta Chowdhury assured those present that he had taken note of all the grievances and would discuss the matters with the Chief Minister to ensure that appropriate steps are taken for their resolution at the earliest.
The Minister also assured that beneficiaries who have not been receiving social welfare pensions due to technical issues would receive their pending payments within the next week.