Agartala: The Central government has provided additional quota of rice at a subsidized rate for the poor living in 12 backward districts in the Northeast, a State government official said here on Monday.

“The union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution on the direction of the Supreme Court has allocated additional quota of food grain to identified 174 districts in 27 States, which include 12 districts in Northeast region,” said Tripura Principal Secretary (food department) BK Roy.

Agartala: Alarmed at the high incidence of cancer and tobacco and drug-related diseases in the state, the Tripura government has decided to punish those using tobacco in public places, officials said here Friday.

The government will also continue its drive against excessive use of tobacco products for their ill-effects and to curb drug abuse, officials said. Senior officials of health, drug control, police and education departments, elected representatives and NGO delegates attended the meeting.

Agartala: The first unit of ONGC-Tripura Power Corporation’s 726 MW gas-based power plant at Palatana in southern Tripura will start generation by September, officials said here on Monday.

On Monday, ONGC started supplying natural gas to the plant through a 54 km-long pipeline. Before the commercial generation of electricity from the unit, trial runs would be conducted during this month-end, ONGC Tripura Power Company Limited (OTPC) Managing Director, Sudhindra Kumar Dube said.

ONGC-Tripura Power Corporation is a 726.6 MW gas-based power project

ONGC's Tripura unit would start releasing gas tomorrow to the ONGC-Tripura Power Corporation (OTPC) for the first phase of the 726.6-MW gas-based power project at Palatana in Gomati district, official sources said today. K Satyanarayana, manager, ONGC, Tripura Asset, will inaugurate the event tomorrow, officials said and added the first unit is likely to start generation by August.

Agartala: Ahead of the assembly polls, scheduled for February next year, the Left Front government in Tripura has decided to provide land with housing facilities to people living below the poverty line (BPL), a minister said here Thursday.

“The Left Front government would provide 0.4 acre of land to rural and 0.2 acre to urban BPL families and construct houses at government cost,” Tripura Finance Minister Badal Choudhury told reporters.

Agartala: The Rural Development Ministry has embarked on a ten-year mission to make India open-defecation free country, said Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh.

The Union Minister, who held a review meeting with representatives of Northeastern states on Drinking Water and Sanitation (DWS) at Prajna Bhavan here on Saturday, told reporters said that the Centre had earmarked Rs. 3500 crore during 2012-13 FY under Nirmal Bharat Abhijan (open-defecation free campaign).

Agartala: In a bid to manage the growing Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), including thin plastic carry bags, leading Agartala based non-government research organisation ARPAN has planned to set up plasma gasification plant.

Followed by a three-day seminar-cum-workshop and round table discussion on management of MSW and alternative use of plastic carry bags, ARPAN vice-president D Daschoudhury said here today that the agenda had been set for turning waste into wealth.

Agartala: A Bangladeshi agro-food processing group, Programme for Rural Advancement Nationally (PRAN), will invest Taka 10 crore (around Rs 6.80 core) to set up an agro-food processing unit in Tripura.

PRAN has been permitted by Bangladesh Revenue Board to invest 10 crore Bangladeshi Taka in the state, Chairman of Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC), Pabitra Kar said.

A farmer was killed and 175 injured in Tripura when a tornado, accompanied by rain and hailstorm, hit the state, destroying more than 1,000 houses, uprooting trees and disrupting communication, officials said on Tuesday.

Authorities have stepped up efforts to provide relief to those affected by the tornado that struck late on Monday. The injured comprise children, women and elderly people.

Agartala: ONGC-Tripura Power Corporation (OTPC)’s 724-MW gas-based thermal power project at Palatana in South Tripura district would start generation by June, a top official of state-owned oil major ONGC said on Tuesday. The first phase of the project would be operational by June, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Sudhir Basudeva, who reviewed the progress of work at the project with OTPC officials on Monday, told reporters here.