For over a year, the TMC government in West Bengal has accused the BJP government at the Centre of withholding the state’s share of funds under various schemes, including MGNREGA (rural job guarantee scheme) and PM Awas Yojana (PMAY). Last week, state government officials said the Centre has been withholding Rs 7,000 crore funds under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for allegedly not adhering to “branding standards” that include the display of the logo and a photograph of the Prime Minister at ration shops.

A senior IAS officer, who was present in Tuesday’s meeting, on the condition of anonymity said: “The Central government officials asked us about the alleged corrupt practices they found in the implementation of MGNREGA in the state and what steps we have taken. They also asked why we are not using the logo and the photograph of the prime minister in the NFSA scheme. We explained all their queries point-by-point. We think they were satisfied with our answers.”

“There are many differences between the Central and state governments. We have tried to minimise them. Now, we will have to see what stance they will take, and accordingly, we will take our next steps,” the senior officer said.

Sources said the six senior officers of the West Bengal government who took part in the meeting were state Finance Secretary Manoj Pant, state Health Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam, state Forest Secretary Vivek Kumar, state Panchayat and Rural Development Secretary P Ulganathan, state Food Secretary Parvez Siddiqui, and state PWD secretary Antara Acharya. From the Centre, the meeting was attended by officials of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Union Ministry of Rural Development.

After meeting the Prime Minister on December 20 last year, Chief Minister Banerjee had said that Modi assured her of holding a joint meeting of government officials to look into the state’s demands on releasing Central funds for various projects.