West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to release Rs 50,000 crore, which the state was yet to receive under various heads from the Centre.The crux of the letter is that non-availability of funds is hurting development projects in Bengal.
“I write to you with deep concern regarding the steady reduction of central funds to our state and also inordinate delay in release of funds due to us from government of India. You will appreciate that this extraordinary situation is leading to great hardship and creating major difficulties in meeting our obligations for the welfare of the common people of West Bengal,” the letter by the chief minister reads.
Mamata told Modi that despite non-receipt of funds from the Centre, the state had repaid Rs 3 lakh crore that the erstwhile Left Front government had borrowed.
The chief minister made it clear in her letter that the state was yet to receive Rs 11,212 crore under the head of devolution of central taxes in the 2019-20 financial year, while it was yet to get Rs 36,000 crore under the head of central grants. She also pointed out that Bengal had not yet been provided with Rs 2,406.79 crore under the head of GST compensation.
Mamata first raised the issue publicly on February 10 after state finance minister Amit Mitra had tabled the budget for the 2020-21 fiscal.
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