Armed activists in West Bengal, in the name of Maoism, were indulging in violence and arson to destabilise and destroy the Left movement in the State, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said here on Monday.
Mr. Sarkar was delivering a special address at the 27th State-level conference of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association.
International mercenaries planned to destroy the Left movement and Maoists were targeting some pockets in the districts bordering Bihar and Jharkhand.
This sorry state of affairs was due to the support given by the Trinamool Congress to these groups, but the Left would withstand the onslaught.
Mr. Sarkar said Tripura would become self-sufficient in food production in the next few years. An action plan was formulated overcome all shortcomings.
“When we assumed office - I will not say when we came to power because States have no power at all — only 2.5 to 3 per cent of total irrigable lands had irrigation facilities. Now, 95 per cent of the irrigable lands are under irrigation. Similarly, we brought 39 per cent of the cultivable lands under cultivation. In the next three years, 50 per cent of the cultivable lands will be brought under cultivation.”
When the Congress was in power, Tripura was importing certified seeds from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Now, the State was self-reliant in certified seed production. “Still, a lot of work needs to be done for the development of agriculture.”
Fertilizers were Tripura’s biggest problem. Despite the availability of natural gas - the basic requirement for manufacturing fertilizers - the Centre was reluctant to establish a fertilizer factory.
