Pending dues of Bengal: ‘Bengal secys summoned to Delhi on January 23’

Kolkata: The departmental secretaries in Bengal are learnt to have been summoned to Delhi on January 23 to deliberate on the issue of pending dues to the state government under schemes sponsored by the Centre, as per agency reports.

Reports claimed that Nabanna sources indicated that the Bengal government received a communication to send the secretaries to the national capital. According to information, meetings will take place on January 23 between the secretaries and Union government officials.

However, Nabanna sources could not confirm such developments when contacted by Millennium Post.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a few days back at a Press conference, had said that no communication was received from the Prime Minister’s Office even after personally meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 20 and urging him to clear pending dues of Bengal.

A state government official said that the maximum pending dues are under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and the 100-day job scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

The dues pending under the two schemes are Rs 8,000 crore and Rs 7,000 crore, respectively. This issue has led to prolonged tension between the Central and Bengal governments.

The Trinamool Congress-led state government has accused the Centre of deliberately withholding funds. The Union government and the BJP have also been accused of massive irregularities in the implementation of these two schemes in Bengal in the form of fake job cards in case of the 100-day job scheme and ineligible beneficiaries in case of PMAY.With Agency Inputs