Agartala, Jan 09, 2023, IANS

Agartala, Jan 09 (IANS): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said that Tripura government employees and the poor people of the state are getting more Dearness Allowance (DA) and social allowance, respectively then their Assam counterparts.

Addressing a pre-poll election rally at Killa (Bagma) in southern Tripura, he said that the Tripura government has recently sanctioned 12 per cent DA to its employees while the Assam government recently sanctioned four per cent DA.

"Tripura government has been giving Rs 2,000 per month to 3.90 lakh poor people as social allowance while the Assam government is giving the allowance at the rate of Rs 1,200 per month," he said, adding that he feared that people of his state would now demand to raise the rate of the social pension.

Quoting his Tripura counterpart Manik Saha, Sarma said that the Tripura government would soon start giving the social pension to more 30,000 poor people.

The Tripura government has also increased the salaries and wages of the state government employees and the Anganwadi workers.

Sarma, also the convener of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), urging the people to cast their votes in favour of BJP candidates in the forthcoming elections, said that the BJP government in Tripura has been providing free rice and rice at the rate of Rs 2 to the poor families even as the previous CPI-M government did not do this despite calling themselves a pro-poor party.

He said that the Agartala airport is much bigger than the Guwahati airport and the roads and other establishments have been developed by the BJP government.

With double engine government functioning in Tripura, the national law university, campus of forensic university and many more important institutions were set up in the state, the Assam Chief Minister said that adding that if there is no Covid-19 pandemic, Tripura's growth would be much more than the present position.