BJP can’t fight us politically, hence halting funds: Abhishek

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP from Diamond Harbour and national general secretary of the party Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday claimed that since the BJP failed to fight TMC politically in Bengal, it was now not clearing the state’s dues.

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP-led Central government for not clearing dues to Bengal under Awas Yojana depriving more than 6.67 lakh potential genuine beneficiaries who do not have a house, he accused the Centre of clearing all the dues to the BJP-run states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat where fake job cards were found in highest numbers.

“But in the case of Bengal, they are depriving the people here only for the sake of politics. It was politically motivated as the people of Bengal had rejected the BJP,” Banerjee remarked.

After addressing a review meeting in Diamond Harbour, he told the media: “Around 92 lakh fake job cards were unearthed in Uttar Pradesh while 79 lakh fake cards were recovered from Madhya Pradesh. UP ranks first as the highest number of fake cards were found there followed by Madhya Pradesh. Gujarat comes in third position followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra. But the Centre has cleared their dues.

“In the case of Bengal, around Rs 6,000 crore dues have been stopped. Around 17 lakh families in Bengal have worked under MGNREGA but they are yet to get their money only because the Centre has not cleared the dues,” he stated.

Regarding the Awas Yojana controversy, the Centre has identified 11,36,000 beneficiaries after three years. Even after that, they are yet to release the 60 per cent of funds that they should release. “There are a total of 3,67,219 beneficiaries, who are yet to get the amount as the Centre is not releasing funds for the same,” he added.

“Why are they (Centre) doing so? Only because the people of Bengal rejected them in the last Assembly polls. This is why they are trying to ensure that people in Bengal do not get food. Bengal Chief Minister has already said that the state is not depending upon the Centre and she also gave stipulated time to the Centre to clear the dues. If they fail to do so, the Bengal government will ensure that the people in Bengal get the houses and also get the dues,” Banerjee further added.

He also said that ever since the “Ek Daake Abhishek” campaign was taken up in June last year, around 8 lakh phone calls were received out of which 68,000 calls were from Diamond Harbour while the rest 7.32 lakh calls were from the rest of Bengal.

“More than 80 per cent issues taken up by the people in Diamond Harbour were resolved, he said.

“There were some complaints relating to Swasthya Sathi and Laxmi Bhadar projects. Most of them have been addressed. Construction of 110 roads has been initiated under MP lad. Around 750 more roads will be taken up by the district administration. There will be a target to finish the work before Puja,” he said.

Banerjee inspected the biggest water treatment plant — Falta-Mathurapur Water Project coming up in Falta at a cost of over Rs 1,400 crore. The project is expected to be completed by the middle of 2024.