NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with a delegation of party MPs to demand the release of Rs 1.15 lakh crore that the Centre owes the state on account of various central schemes and claims for natural disasters over the past years.
Mamata met Modi along with TMC MPs. Kalyan Banerjee, who courted controversy by mimicking Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, was removed from the delegation at the instance of the PMO.
During the meeting, the Bengal CM told the PM that despite performing well in all areas, her state is yet to get its due share of Central resources. Modi proposed that officials of the state and the Centre sit together and sort out things.
Speaking to reporters later, Mamata said 155 central teams have already visited West Bengal and the state government has clarified all the issues raised by them. “We have given clarification 155 times. We can do that once again. In a federal structure, the Central government has a share and the state also has a share,” she said.
On MGNREGA funds, she said it is mandatory to pay the workers. “We didn’t get a penny for 100 days of work in the Budget for FY23.” A memorandum was also submitted to the PM stating that when her government came to power, it acquired the legacy of a burden of Rs 2 lakh crore of debt of the previous regime and it had to repay a Rs 5 lakh crore including interest. Despite this, the state achieved progress in 2011-2023.