AGARTALA, August 8 (TIWN): Breaking the ice, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Friday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him on a series of issues relating to the state. Chief Minister Sarkar requested the PM to visit Tripura for inauguration of the second phase of Palatana power project. Prime Minister Modi accepted the invitation. Sarkar requested the premier to convene a one-day meeting of all Chief Ministers of the northeastern states to discuss unique problems of the NER states.

The Prime Minster agreed to the proposal mooted by Sarkar, an official communiqué from the state government said today. “There is a need to have policy intervention in order to reduce the gap that exists between rest of the country and the NE region in terms of development outcomes. Improving the standard of infrastructure in the important sectors would go a long way in development of the region”, Chief Minister Sarkar told the PM.

Sarkar drew notice of the Prime Minister on rail, road and air connectivity and said that all district headquarters and important tourist destinations and commercial centres had to be connected by four-lane roads. He batted for strengthening of the North Eastern Council (NEC) under the Ministry for Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER) and sought higher budget allocations need to be enhanced and organizationally structured.

He sought the Prime Minister’s intervention for development of the National Highway 44, development of alternate National Highways of the state, railways, Indo-Bangladesh connectivity and sale of power to mainland states of the country and Bangladesh.

While Mamata Banerjee – one of the two key apparent opposition crusader against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, chose to stay away from greeting the Prime Minister and calling on him, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar today created a flurry by the surprise visit to Prime Minister Modi. The visit created a series of speculations, political experts said.