Governor lauds state govt’s feat under Mamata’s leadership

Kolkata: During his speech on the first day of the Budget session, Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Monday described Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a “visionary, enterprising and dynamic leader” while claiming that despite financial constraints and non-receipt of Central fund, the state government has fulfilled its commitment of ensuring employment and housing for the rural populace in the state.

Bose said: “I have full confidence in the dynamic and compassionate leadership of the government and I am very optimistic that defeating all detrimental and negative forces the state will continue to surge ahead for a promising tomorrow.” He mentioned the introduction of ‘Karmashree’ and ‘Banglar Bari’ (Gramin) funded entirely by the state in the financial year 2024-25 to provide at least 50 days of wage employment to each job card holder per household through various works implemented by different departments.

“During this year, so far, nearly 55 lakh job card holders have been provided employment involving fund expenditure of Rs 5,680 crore and generating 31.11 crore man days. The Banglar Bari (Gramin) scheme is being implemented to construct pucca houses for 12 lakh families at an estimated cost of Rs 14,000 crore,” Bose said.

He called the recently-concluded Bengal Global Business Summit an “overwhelming success” and hoped that the proposed investments, once implemented, will boost economic activity and create employment opportunities for Bengal’s youth.

The Governor claimed that the law and order in Bengal remained peaceful over the past year. Highlighting the various initiatives of the state government taken in the past 13 years, he categorically mentioned that women empowerment has been one the most important priorities of the state government. He spoke about schemes Lakshmir Bhandar, Kanyashree, Rupashree, Anandadhara etc that empowered women to a great extent.

Bose called ‘Duare Sarkar’ the largest public service project in the world.

“The state is ranked number 1 in poverty alleviation among the major states across the country (from 2015 to 2021). The government has lifted 92 lakh individuals out of poverty line between 2015 and 2021,” said Bose.