Central funds for Bengal amid Mamata's criticism ahead of Panchayat polls

On its part, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal is trying to embarrass the BJP by highlighting alleged non-cooperation of the Centre in the implementation of various projects.

Kolkata (West Bengal): Ahead of the panchayat elections, the BJP government at the Centre sanctioned 11 lakh houses for West Bengal and approved its share of Rs 8,200 crores under Pradhan Mantri Grameen Awas Yojana.

The latest sanction of houses comes at a time when Chief Minister of Bengal Mamata Banerjee has been repeatedly complaining about the central allocations for the past few days. Now the state government is expected to be under pressure once it gets Rs 8,200 crore under the central project. The campaign for the Panchayat elections has already been launched by the ruling and the opposition leaders.

On its part, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal is trying to embarrass the BJP by highlighting alleged non-cooperation of the Centre in the implementation of various projects. Whereas, the BJP leaders were thinking that sanctioning funds for houses might give an additional advantage to their party in the panchayat election campaign.

Nabanna (WB State Secretariat) officials said, "The Central government is supposed to allocate funds for some central projects in the state under the 15th Finance Commission. Therefore, the center has granted the state fund. The original allocation for the 11 lakh houses combined with the state share and the central share is a little more than Rs 13,000 crores. The Union Ministry of Rural Development has allocated Rs 8,200 crore for the Rural Housing Scheme. The rest of the fund will be paid by the state government."

State Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Pradeep Majumdar said, "the state government is still awaiting funds under MNREGA or 100 days' job scheme. It is the right of those who have worked hard to earn that money, so the Centre should consider this issue. "