Kolkata: Government of West Bengal on Thursday had presented the state budget of Rs. 3.6 lakh crore.
Amid alleged chaos by the opposition party MLAs, state Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya stated that despite ‘fund blockade’ by the central government, the state government in keeping with people from all walks of life had made a state budget of Rs. 3.6 lakh crore.
“Monthly income scheme for women ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ has been increased. For Scheduled Caste and scheduled Tribe the income rose to Rs. 1200 and for general class it became Rs. 1000. The state’s due from the central government is nearly RS. 1.18 lakh crore but despite that we will not cow down. Four per cent increase of DA will also be done,” said Bhattacharya.
Apart from paying the due to MGNREGA workers from the state treasury, the state Finance Minister also announced a new scheme of 50 days work called ‘Karmashri’.
“Even though the center has not given the money but We have within our limited resources created 11 crore man-days for 43 lakh job-card holders in the last year. In the current financial year, 28 crore mandays for 64 lakh job-card holders have been created. Till date, the State from its own resources has created 39 crore man-days of work with an expenditure of Rs. 8,300 crore,” added Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya even announced the ‘Samudrasathi’ scheme under which the farmers from East Midnapore, North and South 24 parganas will get Rs. 5000 every month from mid April to mid June as during that period it is ‘not’ safe to venture in the sea.
“A bridge will be built at Gangasagar for the pilgrims to reach the place. The size of the West Bengal economy, measured in terms of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at current prices, has expanded by nearly four times, from Rs. 4,60,959 crore in 2010-11 to Rs. 17,00,939 crore in 2023-24. Post Covid period, the state's own revenues have rebounded and are now showing a steady growth since the last few years. State Revenue till date has grown by 10% over last FY,"Bhattacharya added, also announcing other schemes for the people.
