New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh Tuesday demanded an increase in the special central assistance for tribal areas of the state on the pattern of the northeastern states.
The state has similar geographical conditions and the tribal areas share the international border.
Chief Parliamentary Secretary Nand Lal raised this issue at a meeting chaired by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram to fix national priorities to empower tribal people.
Representatives of around 25 states took part in the meeting.
Demanding allocation of special central assistance, Nand Lal said the tribal areas constitute more than 42 percent of the total geographical area in the state which has a mountainous terrain, inhospitable weather and harsh living conditions.
“The union government must keep it in view while allocating the central assistance,” an official statement quoted him as saying.
He said the state was committed to provide easy accessibility, irrigation and water supply schemes and quality health and education institutions in the tribal areas.
The central government should come forward to further improve the human development index in the state, he added.
Nand Lal requested the Centre to release special central assistance in one instalment, that too in the first quarter of the financial year so that the available funds were optimally utilised as the working season in the tribal areas was limited due to harsh climatic conditions.