'Mamata government denied people central schemes, misappropriated Rs 5,000 crore': BJP

KOLKATA: The BJP on Sunday alleged that the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal has misappropriated around Rs 5,000 crore by denying benefits to farmers and the poor.

BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya also claimed that assets of a minister in the TMC government have increased exponentially since 2006.

"As far as information is available to us, around Rs 1,000 crore has been misappropriated on this account every year for the last five years, amounting to Rs 5,000 crore," Vijayvargiya told a press conference here.

He said various goods from rice to tarpaulin sent by the Centre did not reach the beneficiaries in the state.

Vijayvargiya said there is no list of the number of farmers in West Bengal and that only a miniscule percentage of them get MSP directly from the procurers, while the rest have to go through middlemen.

"Because no such list is forwarded to the Centre, the farmers cannot get monetary benefits under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi," he added.

The Bengal minder said an investigation will be launched into the "misappropriations" after the BJP wins the assembly elections and forms government in the state.

Denying the allegations, the state's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Jyotpriyo Mallick said the state government "procures food grains from the farmers through cheque payment or by direct transfer of funds to their bank accounts".

Mallick also said the Mamata Banerjee government is open to any investigation.