AGARTALA , December 4 (TIWN) : Assistant Commandant of 12th battalion TSR Bankim Debbarma had undertaken special operations in Ratannagar area close to the Bangladesh border when the jawans of local TSR camp brought to his notice the presence of rich coal reserves in the area on December 1.

While speaking to TIWN, SDM of Gandacherra Bhaskar Dasgupta Tripura is sitting pretty on its rich gas reserves. Now the prospects of rich coal deposits’ being found in the state will definitely boost the economy of the state.  It was the same day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the second unit of the OTPC gas based power plant in neighboring Gomati district, said SDM of Gandacherra Bhaskar Dasgupta. Most of the areas are filled up with coal reserves.

After the discovery of coal reserves some samples were deposited to SDM Gandacherra Bhaskar Dasgupta.

Assistant Commandant of 12th battalion TSR Bankim Debbarma said that it is rare that jawans involved in providing security to labourers who are constructing such an important road in such a sensitive location could have made such pin point notice of the presence of coal. I took note of the fact that the deposits found in the tilla close to the border may be coal based and sent it to Gandacherra that is almost 26 KM from the spot. The area where the coal reserves have been noticed is close to the international border and highly sensitive from the security point of view too.

It remains to be seen what steps the administration takes to ascertain the real proportion of the coal reserves that have been found here?

It is to be mentioned here that earlier, "Coal reserves have been found in Khowai in western Tripura and at Ambassa in the northern part of the state," said GSI regional director for Tripura & Mizoram T Ra-jakumar. "We have sent the samples to GSI office in Kolkata for laboratory examination. Results of the tests are ex-pected shortly." The Central government agency had come in for criticism from the government due to the delay in filing reports and in carrying out supervision activity.