West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fumes as funds granted to other states

Kolkata: Terming a special package granted to states as “political discrimination against West Bengal”, chief minister Mamata Banerjee demanded justice for her cash-strapped state which has been identified by the 12th Finance Commission as one of the most debt-stressed states in the country.

Speaking to Gulf News, Banerjee said: “This is a political vendetta against the people of Bengal. The funds that the central government gives to states don’t belong to a particular political party or group of individuals. Bengal also contributes to it. But they are using it suit their political ends.”

“We do not want to stand before the central government with a begging bowl. We want justice. We want a transparent debt-restructuring plan so that we can invest billions of revenue earned by us on infrastructure development,” she said.

Very recently, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved allocation of enhanced funds for Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Bihar has been given Rs120 billion (Dh8.1 billion) under special plan for the Backward Region Grant Fund for the 12th five-year plan (2012-13 to 2016-17) against Rs 65 billion in the previous plan. The CCEA also decided that the Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh would get the remaining funds of a package announced in 2009-10 in the 12th plan. In 2009-10, the government had allocated Rs 7.2 billion for three years to Bundelkhand. Only Rs 2.7 billion had been utilised in these three years, by when the 11th plan was over. Now, the government will extend the remaining funds for the 12th plan. The Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput area of Odisha is to get the same amount in the 12th plan as in the 11th plan, of Rs250 million a year.

The announcement came at a time when the National Democratic Alliance partners Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal-United have expressed disagreement over the likely projection of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the NDA’s potential prime ministerial candidate ahead of the 2014 general elections. Also, support for Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Samajwadi Party is critical for the survival of the Manmohan Singh government and Madhya Pradesh is due for election this year.

Banerjee plans to launch a massive protest against the Congress government and send 294 elected members of the state legislative assembly to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister and Finance Minister in the coming days. “We have been waiting ever since 2009 when Pranab Mukherjee was the finance minister. We have waited enough. No other state has a huge debt of Rs2 trillion thrust by the previous government. In fact, the central government permitted the previous government of Bengal to continue with borrowing without introducing the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. This financial indiscipline of the previous regime has totally destroyed the fabric of our state,” she added.