AGARTALA:  The Tripura government will set up an ambitious ‘Cultural Hub’ at a cost of Rs 200 crore to promote cultural unity among the northeastern states, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said.

“The state government has decided to set up a ‘Cultural Hub’ in Tripura which would integrate and boost the diverse and traditional cultural harmony among the northeastern states,” Deb said at an event here on Monday night.

He said that the state government has given priority to encourage and further develop the traditional life and culture of the 19 tribes, who constitute one third of Tripura’s four million population.

“In the current financial year (2019-20), 410 cultural events of tribals and non-tribals are being organised across the state,” Deb said, adding that as part of the state’s multifaceted efforts to develop the rich culture of Tripura, a regional centre of the Lalit Kala Akademi, India’s national academy of fine arts, has been set up in Agartala.

An official of the state’s Information and Cultural Affairs Department said that a detailed proposal was submitted to the government for the proposed ‘Cultural Hub’, a first of its kind in the region.

He said that to set up the hub, help and guidance would be sought from the Kolkata-based Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Dimapur’s North Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, both under the Union Ministry of Culture.

The official said that full-fledged centres of four autonomous bodies under the Union Ministry of Culture — Lalit Kala Akademi, National School of Drama, Sahitya Akademi, Sangeet Natak Akademi — would be accommodated in the hub.

The famous Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra was set up in Guwahati by the Assam government in February 1988 to build a socially cohesive and culturally harmonious society through preservation and promotion of the state’s diverse culture and heritage by protection and promotion of its art and archaeology.