CM slams Shukla's reply over RBI's NPA write-off

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has reacted sharply to the answer given by Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State for Finance, regarding writing off of Non-Performing Assets by the Reserve Bank of India.

The question on whether Rs 2.4 lakh crore of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) crony corporate loans have been written off by the present Union government till September 2017, was raised by Ritabrata Bandyopadhyay, expelled CPI-M Rajya Sabha MP on Tuesday.

Banerjee tweeted: "I am shocked to see that at a time when the farmers in the country are crying and committing suicide for their loan burden and asking for waiver of farmer loans, the government of India has not even considered that."

On the contrary, the government of India has decided to write off non-performing assets of public sector banks to the tune of Rs 2,41,911 crore, from the financial year 2014-15 till September 2017.

"This is unbelievable. We had raised the issue of non-performing assets right at the time of demonetisation. Now the cat is out of the bag and reality bites. Even in Parliament reply, the government says that the details of credit information by a PSB cannot be disclosed. Why is this confidentiality? Whom is the government trying to protect? We demand immediate disclosure of the complete list of defaulters of PSBs whose loans have been written off. Is it not a big big big scam?" the Chief Minister said.

Welcoming Banerjee's tweet, Bandyopadhyay tweeted: "There's the Bengal tigress. Always loud and clear for the people's rights. All democratic and secular forces and

people must strengthen the hand of Didi in the fight for saving the country."