News
Bengal Budget: TMC asks Governor to stop reading ‘WhatsApp University Dispatches’ and focus on Bengal Budget documents | Kolkata News
KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Sunday asked the governor to stop reading “university WhatsApp dispatches and start reading Bengal’s budget documents” after C.V. Ananda Bose flagged the “financial meltdown being faced” and demanded an “emergency state cabinet and a white paper” on the state’s finances. Bose made the remarks after meeting Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi on Saturday.
On Sunday, Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose hit back at the governor, claiming that Bengal’s GDP (gross state domestic product) had expanded almost four times from Rs 4 lakh crore in 2010-11 to over Rs 17 lakh crore by 2023-24. She said the growth rate in Bengal was 11.4% against the national growth rate of 8%. The debt-to-GDP ratio fell from 42% in 2011-12 to 30%.
“Industry GSVA growth is 7% in Bengal, national average is 6.5%. Bengal state revenues have increased by 10% year-on-year,” X wrote, adding, “Stop reading dispatches from WhatsApp University only. Read Bengal Budget Statement instead.”
Bose, who on Saturday night went to X to demand an “emergency cabinet” and “issuance of white paper”, alleged that Bengal’s revenue deficit was 9 times higher than the average among states and the fiscal deficit was higher than the FRBM (fiscal responsibility and budget management) limit prescribed by the 15th Finance Commission. He also alleged that the debt-to-GSDP ratio was significantly higher than the national average and that 38% of the state’s revenue was going towards loan repayment.
Bose also said that more than half of the state’s revenue was “actually from central government transfers”, leaving the state with very low fiscal autonomy. By 2023-24, out of Bengal’s total revenue of Rs. 2.13 lakh crore, the central transfer was Rs. 1.17 lakh crore — about 55%, he wrote. Calling for “urgent attention to fiscal imbalance” in the state, Bose appealed to CM Mamata Banerjee, under Article 167 of the Constitution (read with rule 30 of the Business Rules for West Bengal), to place a comprehensive report on the financial situation of the state before the council of ministers.
Former Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh said Bose, being the head of the state, “should have asked the FM to disburse the state’s debts”. “If Bengal’s real interests are in his mind, and not politics, he should have asked the Union finance minister to release Bengal’s legitimate debts under the 100-day work scheme and Awas Yojana. The Center is suffocating Bengal with its debts, and the governor, instead of helping people, is echoing the BJP’s agenda. He should know the way her husband (the FM) (Parakala Prabhakar) criticized the Center for its fiscal mismanagement. Instead, he played the role of a traitor to the state by not even asking for his due,” he said.