Derek O'Brien in 'Shoja Banglay Bolchi' video series: Centre owes Bengal Rs 53,000 crore

Kolkata: In the second video of "Shoja Banglay Bolchi" video series of Trinamool Congress, the party's Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien has highlighted the hefty Rs 53,000 crore that the Centre owes to the state.

This comes a couple of days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release the outstanding dues to help the state combat COVID-19 situation in a better way when it is fighting simultaneously against the disease and aftermath of super cyclone Amphan.

In the 48-second video that he uploaded in his twitter handle, O' Brien has given the break-up of the total dues raised by the state government. He said: "Let me inform you all how much the Centre owes to the state. The total due amount is Rs 53,000 crore. It includes Rs 36,000 crore for different Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), Rs 11,000 crores of devolution funds from the Centre, Rs 3000 crore as GST compensation and another Rs 3,000 crore for food subsidies and other heads."After giving detailed information on the total dues, O'Brien urged people to think about it deeply.

At the same time he asked people to stay safe and healthy at this critical time.

The Bengal government had been urging the Centre for the past six months to clear the dues. Now, release of this amount by the Centre is essential for the state as the financial burden is going up when the state has already spent Rs 2500 crore to fight against COVID-19 and Rs 6250 crore for reconstruction work after super cyclone Amphan despite the economy has completely nosedived. Trinamool Congress had launched the video series on a social platform on Sunday to highlight different aspects of Bengal including the achievements of the state government in the past nine years. In

the first video, O'Brien had highlighted about only 6.5 per cent unemployment rate in Bengal.