Agartala, Oct. 18: The Tripura government is on an overdrive to ensure continued development work in the Autonomous District Council (ADC) area, with the council elections barely six months away.

In the last ADC polls held in April 2005, the Left Front had made a clean sweep because of the discontent among the tribal electorate over the malfunctioning of the council under the regional INPT from 2000 to 2005.

But the dissatisfaction among the tribal voters has grown over the past five years because of corruption in a section of tribal leaders, slow pace of development and partisanship in granting official favours.

Realising that the discontent might adversely affect the Left Front’s prospects in the upcoming polls, chief minister Manik Sarkar reviewed the development profile in the ADC area in a high-level meeting attended by his senior cabinet colleagues yesterday.

According to ADC’s chief executive member Ranjit Debbarma, the council has already received Rs 45.37 crore out of its budgeted Rs 60.5 crore in the current financial year. The officials present in the meeting briefed the ministers about the development activities.

Altogether 10,526 families of shifting cultivators received assistance from the council over the past five years and irrigation facilities was extended over 1,200 hectares of land, they said.

Nearly 3,000 tribal rubber cultivators have received assistance, including subsidy from the ADC, and 28.67km of new all-weather roads have been constructed across the hilly and difficult terrain.

“There has also been considerable progress in the power sector and health services in areas under the ADC,” a source present in the meeting said.

Sarkar asked the officers and his cabinet to execute all development projects in the ADC areas on a priority basis.

Highly placed sources in the CPM said the council election would pose no problem for the Left Front but there is a point of concern.

“The regional IPFT and INPT have been trying to polarise the tribals and non-tribals over the issue of land allotment under the forest right protection act. We are trying to convince the tribal people and we do not think they will be swayed by the mischievous propaganda of the communal IPFT and INPT,” the source said.