GANGASAGAR: Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused Delhi of sending officers to check on “trivial matters” while denying the state funds, including under MGNREGS, and claimed that the Center was “discriminating between states”.
A Central team visited Bengal on Thursday to look into allegations of irregularities in the allotment of houses under PMAY. The ruling TMC termed the visits to Malda and East Midnapore districts as “political vendetta” by the BJP-led government at the Centre.
Taking a dig at the BJP-led central government, Banerjee said despite Centre’s deprivation 50 lakh mandays were generated in the state by spending Rs 2500 crore.
“BJP leaders talk about fake job cards in 100 Days’ Work Scheme. They are the ones who do the Direct Bank Transfer. What about Uttar Pradesh, where over 69 lakh fake job cards are there. These BJP leaders claim there are 20 lakh fake job cards in Bengal, then what about the 69 lakh fake job cards in UP? What about the fake cards in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka? Why are you discriminating between states, just because your party is in power in one state and you are in Opposition in Bengal? There should be no discrimination. Law should be uniform for all,” Banerjee said.
She also accused BJP leaders of having “taken the money from PMAY despite having two-three storied buildings.”
“We (Bengal) are not getting funds for the 100 days’ work scheme. The poor people are working but not getting paid and dues are pending. How many times should I have to ask the Centre for money?” Banerjee asked rhetorically.
“Don’t ever think that Centre is showing us any sympathy by giving us the funds. It is our right to get it. The Centre takes GST from the State. Bengal doesn’t levy any State Tax. From Income Tax to Customs, all taxes now follow a uniform system. We are yet to receive the GST compensation from the Centre,” she said.
“When the Centre takes away the tax, and returns us our share, they don’t do any sympathy or give it to us as alms. Getting that share is our right. No other state is deprived. Bengal, despite being on top and generating the most mandays in the 100 Days’ Scheme, is deprived of funds from the Centre,” she said.
She said that in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme, an inquiry has been initiated after receiving complaints and 17 lakh names have been removed from the list.“In fact, in the past month, we have sanctioned 11 lakh houses under the scheme. This is because the funds from the Centre arrived late. Then also, not the entire amount was sanctioned. We had 50 lakh registered names, of which 17 lakh names were removed by us. The remaining houses, too, will be built in phases. And we will do that after conducting a detailed inquiry,” she said.
She alleged that BJP leaders have made two-storey, three-storey houses in their names. “They have taken away all the money in the name of Grameen Awas Yojana. We are conducting an inquiry against all such names. Despite all this, if there are any faults in implementation of the scheme by the government, we are bringing accountability to monitor the funds. Wherever we have received complaints, we’ve acted and removed all illegal names from the list,” said Banerjee.
“For political reasons, the Centre keeps sending A Team, B Team etc. Anything untoward happens, they will send a team from the Centre to probe the matter,” she added. She also raised her voice against some BJP leaders in Bengal for trying to mislead the people of Bengal by distorting facts.“I will tell them, instead of being negative, be positive,” she advised.