Chief Minister Biplab Deb today said in the assembly that his government has taken major steps in adding value to the agriculture produces to benefit farmers, apart from creating government jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities in the last 11 months .
Refuting the allegations of the opposition that the state was reeling under joblessness, Deb said
Tripura government has recently opened mega Food Park near Agartala under Ministry of Food Processing, which was expected to raise not only farmers’ income but generate employment.
The chief minister said, considering the high yield potential of agriculture and horticulture, the park proposed to have more than 35 food processing units with fresh capital investment of Rs 350 Cr. The investment would eventually lead to an annual turn over of around Rs 500 Cr and generate employment of 30,000 people.
Tripura Mega Food Park, spread over 50 acres of land, was the first designated centre of excellence for food industry in the state. Built at a cost of Rs 87 Cr, it aimed to facilitate strengthen the food processing industries backed by an efficient supply-chain, which would include at least five primary processing centres across the state.
He said, Tripura had strong potential for entrepreneurship, but the erstwhile left front government never worked on facilitating self-employment.
The CM said the eight units of food processing, including pineapple processing had started functioning. Huge cold storage facilities had been set up in the park for the farmers, which will stabilize the horticulture market, he added.
Apart from that the state government has identified about two lakh families residing along the major roads of the state who will be paid Rs 200 monthly for raising fruit bearing trees and floriculture, he said. “This will increase fruit and flower production in the state and generate huge employment. At present Tripura is depending on neghibouring states for fruits and flower but with the initiative state will be self-sufficient and a huge employment will be generated,”he said.
“Moreover, the state government has attached importance to tourism development and income from tourism has been increased in manifolds,” Deb told the House.
“The process of bringing more investment in tourism sectors is at final stage and in past few months revenue generation in tourism has increased substantially,”the CM said.
“The state government is going to set up IT hub and projects for PPP model are encouraging,” Deb mentioned.
Tripura Food Park expected to create 30000 jobs: Deb
