In the first day of the winter session of Tripura Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha moved a motion to raise funds allowed under the Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development Fund (MLALAD) to Rs 50 lakh annually with an additional Rs 25 lakh for each legislator.

Speaking on the motion, Chief Minister Dr Saha extended his greeting to all on New Year,and said that under MLALAD, one state MLA can use Rs. 50 lakh annually for the development of their assembly constituency. He said many MLAs have demanded to raise the fund for development of their local areas and now, the government has decided to raise the amount from Rs. 50 lakh to Rs. 75 lakh annually.

The motion for sanctioning the annual expenditure of Rs 45 crore for the purpose, instead of the current allocation of Rs 30 crore, was passed with a thumping majority. “It is often tough to manage work with the previous fund allocation. Different people have raised this demand for some time. So, I raised this proposal,” Dr Saha said.

While, the Opposition benches supported the proposal and the opposition leader Animesh Debbarma proposed to hike the funds to Rs 1 crore in a year.