CM’s announcement came as she ended a two-day dharna demanding release of Central dues pending to West Bengal Government for different welfare schemes.
After months of a high-decibel campaign blaming the BJP Government at the Centre for “depriving the poor people of Bengal by withholding funds due on account of MGNREGA”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today made a major announcement that her Government would pay 21 lakh MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers their pending wages by February 21. The dues will be transferred to their bank accounts.
“We do not want to beg from BJP nor do we want BJP’s alms. By February 21, we will transfer money to the bank accounts of 21 lakh workers who did not get the money even working for three years for the 100-days work scheme for the last three years,” Banerjee announced. “The State Government will clear the dues. The pending wages will be transferred to bank accounts of the poor people by February 21,” she said.
The Chief Minister’s announcement came as she ended a two-day dharna demanding the release of Central dues pending to the West Bengal Government for different welfare schemes.
The Trinamool Congress had been carrying out a sustained campaign claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government at the Centre was not paying the State thousands of crores of rupees on account of various welfare schemes, including the MGNREGA and the PM Awas Yojana.
On Saturday, she said: “This is the first phase. I shall make an announcement regarding the Awas Yojana funds very soon.”
For more than a year, the Trinamool Congress has been talking about the Centre’s depriving the poor people of West Bengal and party general secretary and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee had even led a dharna in New Delhi which culminated in Trinamool Congress MPs being physically removed from the offices of the Rural Development Ministry, which oversees MGNREGA.
The Chief Minister, along with her party MPs, had also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December to address the longstanding issue of pending dues to the State.
Reacting to Mamata Banerjee’s announcement, the BJP’s Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said: “The Chief Minister was forced to take this step because, during her recent five-day tour of north Bengal, she has understood which way the wind is blowing. The poor have realised how the Trinamool was looting them. Mamata may try to bribe them with this announcement, but the people will not vote for her this time.”
BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya dismissed the allegations against the Centre as baseless. “It is the State Government which could not provide details regarding the use of Central funds and has not submitted utilisation certificates, which is why the funds have been halted,” Bhattacharya said.