Agartala, July 24 : The Tripura government today launched a special employment guarantee scheme, designed on the lines of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), for the urban poor.

After the success of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) which was launched in 2006, Tripura is the first state in the country which launched such a project for urban areas and ambitious Tripura Urban Employment Programme (TUEP) proposes to provide at least 50 days work to each urban BPL family at Rs 100 per day.

The scheme was officially launched in the Agartala town hall today in presence of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Urban Development Minister Manik Dey.

Initially Rs 30 crore would be spent to benefit 48,000 families in the towns of the state including 22,000 in Agartala.

It would be introduced in the Agartala municipal area and 15 nagar panchayats.

Each beneficiary would be paid a wage of Rs 100 and would be engaged in either of the eight sectors -- water body creation and maintenance, garbage cleaning, repairing of old roads, road construction, roadside jungle cleaning and cleaning of market and parks. (ANI)