Singur (Hooghly): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee again came down heavily on the central government over the Goods and Service Tax (GST) issue, on Tuesday. The Chief Minister admitted her mistake in supporting the GST implementation. She was speaking at a function held in Hooghly's Singur on Tuesday. "Our biggest mistake was supporting the GST," the CM reiterated.
The chief minister launched the Pathashree-Rastashri project from Singur. Besides, she also inaugurated several projects from the dais in Ratanpur, Singur. "Thirty thousand village roads in 22 districts of the state will be given a facelift. It will cost us around Rs 3.75 crore," Mamata said.
While addressing the gathering, the CM reminded that the money for the construction of roads will be spent from the state government's coffer. "There is no central government allocation in this regard," she said.
Then raising the topic of GST, the CM said, "You know that after GST implementation, the Centre takes all the money. Our worst mistake was to support GST."
"We thought the states would be benefited. But now, I see that 100 days money has been put on hold. Job card holders are not getting jobs. Funds for Gramin Awas Yojana have been stopped. The scholarship money for students has been stopped," she added.
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"For the OBCs, scholarship money has to be disbursed under the Medhashree scheme. At least 23 lakh applications are pending under the Oikyasree scheme," she said. On the sidelines of the function, the Chief Minister inaugurated more than 12000 km of roads in the state.
While presenting the review of government projects, the CM said, "Now, the government officials will visit the booth to resolve people's problems. The government camp will be set up where people can visit to resolve their issues. We have made a rule under the Lakshmi Bhandar scheme wherein a pension of Rs 1000 will be given to all castes and tribes after attaining the age of 60 years," Mamata signed off.
