The West Bengal government and State’s Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Saturday came under sharp attack when leaders of the Congress and Left parties punched holes in his claims that the Budget has set various records.
During the debate on the Budget, Congress MLA Manas Ranjan Bhunia cited the figures from various departments where the money allocated under the previous Budget was far less than what was spent by departments. In this connection, the Congress MLA mentioned departments such as Child Development, Food and Supplies, Housing, Minority Affairs and Information and Cultural Affairs which are held by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Mr. Mitra said the Centre had not given funds and that was why the actual allocations had come down.
Dr. Bhunia also touched upon the implementation of the 100-day job guarantee scheme MGNREGA in the State and said the State had spent the highest amount under the scheme but was still at 17 in the list of 29 States.
Meanwhile, CPI (M) MLA Asok Bhattacharya said the State government was taking loans to repay loans. By doing so, it could win elections but would end up like Argentina.
On Friday, when Mr. Mitra presented his Budget, the Left and the Congress sought a white paper on employment generation in the State.
