MGNREGA dues: TMC steadfast on white paper from Centre
The Statesman | 3 August 2024
Trinamul Congress today lambasted the Union home minister and demanded a white paper be published immediately on funds allocated to Bengal under MGNREGA and Awas Yojana from 2021.
Trinamul Congress on its X-handle wrote, “We do not want HM@AmitShahreading scripted speeches; we demand@BJP4India# Release White Paper on funds allocated to Bengal under MGNREGA & Awas Yojana since 2021. If the Centre has truly disbursed these funds, substantiating it should be a breeze. So, why the hesitation? What’s the hold up.”
It may be recalled that Abhishek Banerjee, MP from Diamond Harbour had demanded publication of a white paper on the funds allocated under MGNREGA and Awas Yojana after the Union finance minister in her reply to the discussion on the Union Budget did not say anything on the matter.
Trinamul Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghosh said, “We fail to understand why the delay in publishing the white paper regarding the allocation of funds to Bengal under MGNREGA and Awas Yojna since 2021.”
Rajya Sabha Trinamul MP Sushmita Dev said, “The Union Home Minister Amit Shah in his speech did not mention about the deprivation of Bengal. The government is scared to publish the white paper regarding allocation of funds as it will unmask them. We demand its immediate publication.”
Abhishek had raised the demand to publish the white paper 140 days ago, when he said that Trinamul Congress and Centre might not be speaking the truth on the matter. The doubt can only be dispelled if the Centre came out with the white paper on the matter.
Chandrima Bhattacharya, state finance minister, had yesterday said that it takes minutes to upload the figures relating to allocation of funds. But the Centre would never do it as it knows that it had not released any funds under MGNREGA and Awas Yojana since 2021.