Agartala, June 20: The Tripura government has taken a Rs 500 crore loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Hudco to execute the Rs 1,000 crore Smart City project here, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said here on Wednesday.

"The state government has taken Rs 500 crore as loan from the ADB and Hudco (Housing and Urban Development Corporation) to carry out the Rs 1,000 crore smart City project in Agartala by 2021. The loan was taken to meet the matching share of the state government," Deb told the state Assembly.

Accusing the previous Left Front government of delaying the project, he said the Centre had sanctioned the Rs 1,000 crore project in 2016 and the Manik Sarkar regime had implemented it, it would have been completed by 2019. 

Replying to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Asish Saha, the Chief Minister said works for the project have already begun and the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has sanctioned Rs 196 crore.

Regarding floods and the chronic water-logging problems in Agartala, two multi-purpose dams would be constracted at the Baramura Hills at a cost of Rs 225 crore.

"The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has already sanctioned Rs 125 crore for the dams. The project has been approved by the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme," the Chief Minister added.

After the construction of the two dams, pure water can be supplied to the people and livelihood opportunities of the tribals would be created, according to Deb.

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New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.

The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.

"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."

In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."

Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.

"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."

"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.

Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".

"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.

The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.

The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.