india

Updated: Apr 27, 2020 12:40 IST

Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb has appealed to people to increase activities in the primary sector, including agriculture, fisheries, dairy, animal husbandry, in order to tackle the adverse impact on the economy due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

As he emphasised the importance of strengthening the primary sectors, Deb assured people of subsidised loans under different government schemes.

“Since the beginning, we have focused to strengthen the primary sectors. In this present situation, we set our target to reduce the deadline by one to two years to achieve self-sufficiency in primary sectors,” Deb said in a statement on Sunday.

“We have decided this to make up the loss of economy caused due to lockdown. Our goal to make Tripura a model state is fixed and we need the cooperation of people for this,” the chief minister said.

Regarding fisheries, he pointed out that fish seeds are produced in the state and Andhra Pradesh procures them from West Bengal worth of Rs 150 crore.

“If Tripura can meet the demand of Andhra Pradesh, the same amount can be earned by us. Hence, the income of the fish cultivators will increase. So, I appeal to work hard to meet the target by 2020. Our government has already contacted the Andhra Pradesh in this issue,” said Deb.

Similarly, he said, the government is planning to introduce “one district, one fruit or one crop” formula in the block level to increase the production of jackfruit, pineapple and oranges by three times.

The state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 250 crore in the rubber sector in the last two-and-a-half months. The state earns revenue of nearly R. 1500 crore from rubber per year.

Deb also asked market committees to ensure social distancing norms are followed in markets along with other rules and also laid emphasis on engaging volunteers to help people maintain the guidelines.

He also said thermal screening in the markets would be started soon.

The government has allowed single shops and rural markets to open in the state.

There are no cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the northeastern state after two infected people recovered.