• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura 

Agartala, May 25, 2022 : In an eco-friendly move, Tripura’s council of ministers on Tuesday approved a five-year new policy under the Transport department for converting at least 10 percent of the vehicles into electric vehicles.

This decision of adopting ‘Tripura Electric Vehicle Policy’ was initiated in the second cabinet meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha at Civil Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon.

In a press conference at Civil Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon, Cabinet Spokesperson and Information & Cultural Affairs minister Sushanta Chowdhury said “The cabinet in its sitting on Tuesday decided to adopt the electric vehicle policy has been adopted for the next five years under the transport department.”

“In total, 60,000 small and large vehicles are plying in the state. According to the policy, efforts will be made to convert at least 10 percent of vehicles into electric vehicles in the next five years.”

“So far this policy has been implemented in 14 states of the country except for our state. The policy has also been adopted by Meghalaya and Assam. The main objective of introducing this policy is to maintain a pollution-free environment in the state,” he added.

Chowdhury said, “The council of ministers has also given the nod to appoint 6 Motor Vehicle Inspectors under the Transport department. This recruitment process will be completed through Tripura Public Service Commission. The department would soon take steps to complete the recruitment process.”

Apart from this, the cabinet spokesperson said that the cabinet also decided to purchase around 20,000 metric tonnes of paddy from farmers at a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 19.40 per kilo in this year’s ‘Kharif’ season.

“This paddy will be procured at 32 temporary procurement centres across the state. An amount of about Rs 45 crore to be spent by the government. The procurement of paddy will start from the first week of June”, he also added.

Minister asserted “So far, more than one lakh metric tons of paddy have been procured from the farmers after the BJP-led coalition government formed in the state while Rs 192.52 crore was spent.”