Agartala: Former Tripura Chief Minister and current Rajya Sabha Member Biplab Deb has asked for a 12% share of the money set aside in the North East Council (NEC) budget for Tripura's continued development.

On Thursday at the parliament building, Deb brought the attention of DoNER Minister G Kishan Reddy by asking, "I wanted to know from the DoNER minister G Kishan Reddy that why the 12% share allotted for the state of Tripura from NEC budget is not being supplied to the state."

Deb also brought up the Sonamura-Daudkandi inland waterway, which connects Tripura with Bangladesh, and asked the Center to be involved to speed up the project's progress.

Biplab Kumar Deb further urged that the Centre examine the problem of impediments with the relevant ministry of the neighbouring Bangladesh country during the current winter session of the parliament. He requested the centre to begin transportation as soon as possible by using the international Sonamura-Daudkandi route.

On September 3–5, 2020, a test run for the first export shipment from Bangladesh to Tripura via inland waterways was undertaken. The MV Premier was escorted by Biplab Kumar Deb to Sonamura in Tripura after being flagged off from Daudkandi in Chattogram, Bangladesh.

Deb informed the parliament that "some obstacles were found from the Bangladeshi side after the first trial run and shortly after the Union ministry discussed the matter with the Bangladesh counterpart, but since then there has been no progress in removing the obstacles from the Bangladesh side." "The challenges included the necessity of dredging operations from the Bangladesh section," he added. But as of now, Bangladesh has not even begun its dredging efforts. "Therefore, I urge that the Union government of India to discuss the issue with the government of Bangladesh and begin the dredging work as soon as possible".

Before the trial run, the Indian branch of the Ministry of Shipping had already constructed up a floating jetty at Sonamura. Construction of a permanent jetty is currently in full swing, and Deb expressed the expectation that once commercial transit on this canal begins, trade between the two nations will improve, possibly boosting trade between Tripura and other North-Eastern regions of the nation.

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