Mamata Banerjee claims Centre owes West Bengal over Rs 13,000 crore under developmental schemes in 2017

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said the Centre owes the state more than Rs 13,000 crore under various developmental schemes in 2017. “By our calculation till 25 November, we are supposed to get Rs 13,714 crore from the central government under various developmental schemes even after paying off our yearly debt of Rs 40,000 crore to the centre,” Banerjee said after the administrative meeting at the state secretariat Nabanna. She said the money is to be paid by the Centre under central schemes like NDRF (National Disaster Response Fund), Swachh Bharat Mission, National Urban Livelihood Mission, National Rural Drinking Water Programme, exchange of enclaves and so on. [caption id=“attachment_3971737” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI[/caption] Giving an account of the state’s expenditure in the current administrative calendar, the chief minister said it has increased the release of planned funds this year and has also decided to spend Rs 12,000 crore separately for infrastructural development in the state. “In 2016, total planned fund released was Rs 36,730 crore, but this time we have released more than Rs 44,000 crore. So it has been considerably increased. We have also decided to spend Rs 12,000 crore extra for infrastructural development and Rs 900 crore has been already released,” she said. Banerjee said the state would introduce E-Office in all the state run departments from the beginning of next year to bring in more transparency and credibility. She also claimed that accidental deaths in the state have come down by 13 percent while the number of road accidents has reduced by 16 percent after the state government’s initiative on road safety. “Bengal is now the second least road accident prone state after Punjab. But our population is twice of Punjab. So considering the population, it can be said our state is number one in this regard,” she added.