'Yet to receive a single penny': Mamata Banerjee slams Centre, Narendra Modi over financial assistance for Cyclone Bulbul

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that the state is yet to receive a single penny as financial help from the Centre for Cyclone Bulbul-affected areas despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance. Banerjee was speaking in the state Assembly during Question Hour. [caption id=“attachment_4063079” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI[/caption] She was replying on the extent of devastation caused by Bulbul in three coastal districts of West Bengal. “We have not received a single paise till today from the central government despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tweet about helping the state the next day after Bulbul made landfall. The home minister had also tweeted,” Banerjee said. An estimate of Rs 23,000 crore was given to a central team which visited the three districts to review the extent of loss, but no fund had been received from the Centre. The chief minister said over 14 lakh hectare of agricultural land was destroyed in the cyclone, and as many as 15 people had lost their lives in the natural calamity. An amount of Rs 1,200 crore was released from the state finance department to help the farmers. Banerjee said that the state would also release Rs 5,000 each for those betel leaf farmers who faced a huge loss in the devastation. However, Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai had on 27 November said that central share amounting to Rs 414.90 crore to West Bengal had already been released. In a written reply to a question regarding Cyclone Bulbul, in Rajya Sabha, Rai had said, “During the year 2019 and 2020, central share amounting to Rs 414.90 crore to West Bengal and Rs 552.00 crore to Odisha has already been released under SDRF by the Central government and additional financial assistance to states is extended from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).” With inputs from agencies