Unveiling a “15-years report card” – Unnayoner Panchali – of the TMC government in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly polls due early next year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she never drifted from the path of development despite the Centre withholding the state’s dues in crucial rural welfare schemes.
She said that her government has generated 2 crore jobs in the 14-year rule, and an additional 1 crore jobs will be created in the future.
“Our government lifted 72 lakh families from poverty in the last 14 years. We generated more than 2 crore jobs and reduced unemployment by 40 per cent… We generated more than one crore jobs in the MSME sector, and developed new 12 lakh self-help groups,” the TMC supremo said.
The CM said that while the Deocha Panchami coal block and corridor will generate 1 crore employment, a sum of Rs 35000 crore has been spent on setting up the Bengal Silicon Valley, where over 2 lakh people are already working.
Noting that West Bengal topped the country in MGNREGA job allocation and constructions in rural housing and village roads four times in a row, before the Centre withheld money, she said: “Despite that, we launched our own schemes to continue with those projects by mopping up our own resources. Now, yet another election is knocking at our doors, when will the Centre clear our dues?”.
“What we had promised, we have fulfilled. We are not like the BJP to promise before the election. In Bihar, the BJP distributed Rs 10,000 among women before the Assembly polls and gave them bulldozers after winning the elections… In our state, women have received Rs 60,000 under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme over the last five years,” she said.
Stating that over 2.2 crore women in West Bengal currently receive Lakshmir Bhandar aid, the CM said that the state government has spent over Rs 1 lakh crore on the Khadya Sathi food security scheme, covering over 9 crore people; and Rs 1,717 crore under Duare Ration (doorstep delivery of subsidised food) to 7 crore people.
“We have enhanced budgetary allocation in the state’s health sector by six times in the last 14 years,” she said.
Claiming that West Bengal now serves as a model in various fields for the rest of India, especially in rural development and the MSME sector, Banerjee stated that the state currently ranks second in the country in attracting foreign tourists.
She also instructed all district magistrates to focus on implementing developmental works and welfare schemes. “I know you people are busy with the election duty. But don’t ignore developmental works. What we have committed to people, we have to deliver them,” she said, adding that those district administrations that will complete their projects early will be rewarded.
She directed Chief Secretary Manoj Pant to make a team of 10 officers to monitor the ongoing project works.
No Global Business Summit, but a conclave this month
The chief minister said that the state government would not organise the Bengal Global Business Summit next February due to elections and will instead hold a business conclave on December 18. “We will organise BGBS next year after the elections, when we will form the government,” the CM said.
What’s panchali
Panchali is a centuries-old oral verse tradition that narrates stories in lyrical form.
The 15-year report card, Unnayoner Panchali, talks about the government’s achievements in verses. Singer Iman Chakraborty sang along with her team during the launch of the report card.
“Earlier, our mothers and grandmothers used to sing panchali in the evening. People used to enjoy it a lot. This has become extinct now. It still happens in villages where people light diyas under tulsi plants… To keep this tradition alive, we have launched the report card in the form of a panchali, as song and poetry,” the CM said.