Kolkata: Despite the Central government’s continued fund blockade, the Mamata Banerjee government has received Rs 4,40,595 crore in investment proposals in this year’s Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) out of which Rs 16,000 crore has already been cleared and the state continues to allocate more funds in social security schemes.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday, reacted to Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s “misleading” assertions in Parliament and also attacked the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government for its failure to check the major mishap in Maha Kumbh.
“Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement against Bengal is biased and not based on facts. She should not focus on Bengal. The Union Budget is merely election-oriented. What happened to their Ujjwala scheme? What is its future?” she said.
The Union Finance minister had earlier launched an attack on the Trinamool in the Lok Sabha while responding to discussions on the Union Budget. “It’s ironic, Trinamool, which means grassroots, now symbolizes harassment,” she had stated.
Banerjee reacted to the statement while she was speaking to the reporters after the state Budget was presented in the Bengal Assembly.
Speaking about the state Budget, she said: “State Budget has a vision. It will create employment opportunities. It has been designed so that people do not have to seek financial assistance. Our mission is to create more employment. In this Bengal Global Business Summit 2025, we received Rs 4,40,595 crore in investment proposals, of which Rs 16,000 crore has already been cleared; a synergy committee has also been formed.”
She also said that 1.30 crore jobs have been created in the MSME sector in the state. Banerjee also stated that around 2.21 crore women are getting benefits from Lakshmir Bhandar while 1 crore has availed benefits under Kanyashree and the state has spent Rs 15,000 crore for the scheme.
About 18,64,000 beneficiaries have availed “Rupashree” scheme.
Slamming the UP government Banerjee said: “What did they do for Maha Kumbh? No one knows the actual death toll and the same thing happened during Covid!” She also criticised the Centre for allegedly withholding funds for Bengal and slammed the BJP for defaming the state on countless occasions.
Attacking the Centre, she said: “If you see the Budget carefully, the Centre promises during elections, but after elections, the promises become (failures). However, we don’t engage in such false claims. Since there is only one tax GST, we don’t get our dues. The funds for MGNREGA and Awas have been stopped by them (Central government). I am happy that Bihar received benefits from the Union Budget but after the election that will become zero because they (BJP) are only election heroes.”
Reacting to the Union Budget, Banerjee said: “They (BJP) should first fix their own corruption. They control the media and set the narrative. None of them speak the truth…Nirmala Ji, what happened to Ujjwala? You do nothing but give speeches. You bulldoze the federal structure. You take help from the Election Commission and send the ED and CBI.”
“I am not blaming them, but this is what you do. Why should the voter roll be made online? How did Maharashtra’s voter list increase by 40 lakh? They are trying the same in Bengal, attempting to add outsiders to our voter list. We will not allow this. What others cannot do, we can. We have uncovered their lies,” Banerjee stated further.
Banerjee and former state Finance minister Amit Mitra said that the Central government’s total per capita debt is Rs 1,41,131 crore, the per cent of debt to GDP is 56.1 as per the Central government.
“We had a huge debt inherited by the erstwhile government which would amount to Rs 2 lakh crore. This year also we have repaid Rs 80,000 crore for loans. Bengal per capita debt is one-half of the government of India,” Banerjee and Mitra said during the Press conference after the Budget.