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War of words between minister, LoP in West Bengal assembly over demand for central funds

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Kolkata, Nov 29 (PTI) West Bengal's Panchayat Minister Pradip Majumdar and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari engaged in a war of words in the assembly on Friday over the BJP-led government at the Centre stopping funds for several social welfare schemes in the state.

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Speaking on a resolution demanding central funds, Majumdar said the Centre owed the state crores of rupees for schemes such as MGNREGA and PM Awas Yojana since 2021, to which Adhikari replied that the money was stopped as the TMC government failed to provide utilisation certificates.

The minister said the state government had sent names of 56 lakh people for housing units under Awas Yojana, and the Centre had approved 11 lakh of them.

"But even those 11 lakh people are yet to get a single paisa for constructing houses," he said, adding that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ensured that they get the funds from the state exchequer.

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There are 59 lakh job card holders under the MGNREGA, and for it, the Centre owed the state Rs 3,731 crore, Majumdar said.

Adhikari claimed the state government could not spend central funds of Rs 6.4 lakh crore in the past due to "financial indiscipline" as manifested in its "failure" to send utilisation certificates to the Centre.

"The Centre had sent thousands of crores of rupees for midday meal scheme and Rs 30,000 crore under PM Awas Yojana," he said.

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He alleged that 25 lakh fake MGNERGA job cards were given to ineligible people in the state.

"This government is only interested in changing the names of landmark social welfare projects of the Centre like Ayushman Bharat and PM-Kisan, but not concerned whether benefits are reaching the intended beneficiaries though it claims to be a champion of causes of the common people," he said.

Reacting to the allegations, Majumdar claimed the state government has taken prompt action to tackle the fake job cards racket.

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He said that the number of fake job cards is far higher in states like Uttar Pradesh, while West Bengal had the lowest number of such cases.

The minister said the BJP "has no rights" to speak on renaming schemes as the Narendra Modi government itself changed the name of Indira Awas Yojana to PM Awas Yojana.

Describing the subject of the resolution as "politically motivated", Adhikari said, "This government introduces many such resolutions and those are passed with a majority in the House but the outcome remains zero." He said he had expected the state's finance Minister to be present during the discussion, and the presence of Majumdar as the only minister in the House showed the state's attitude on the whole issue.

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He said the BJP is seeking a meeting with the chief secretary to present their views on the issue.

Before a vote on the resolution, around 40 BJP MLAs present in the House walked out, protesting the "politicisation" of the issue.

Government Chief Whip Nirmal Ghosh, who had moved the resolution in the House, said, "The BJP failed to show a united face of the West Bengal assembly on the issue. They are exposed again." The House then passed the resolution through a voice vote. PTI SUS SOM

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