Central assistance of Rs 78.5 crore for ADC bodies

The Central Government has released a grant of Rs 78.5 crore as compensation from 15th Finance Commission’s allocations for 1260 traditional rural organizations including the head quarter of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), 40 Block Advisory Committees (BAC) and 587 village committees. Out of the total, Rs 31.40 crore has been sanctioned as the first installment of the free compensation and Rs 47.10 crore as separate compensation. The fund was released from the allocation of financial year 2024-25.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Jal Shakti (Department of Drinking Water and sanitation Division) has recommended the allocation which the Finance Department has subsequently released.

A PIB release informed it but the timing of the releasing the fund appears to be significant as it is presumed that the state is going to hold the long pending election of the 587 Village Committees in the TTAADC areas by next February.

The political observers feel that the fund at this time will be a big booster for the ruling BJP as most of the bodies that are going to receive the fund are controlled by the party though the TTAADC is controlled by TIPRA Motha. At present there is no elected Village Committee in the state. In absence of these all the Block Advisory Committees and the Village Development Committees are being run by the bodies nominated by the BJP ruled state government.

 Initially, the TIPRA Motha objected to nomination of such bodies by the state government and there were confrontations in different places. However, recently, it appears that some adjustment has taken place as there is no report of confrontations in recent times.