Reject Bengal govt’s fresh loan plea, Suvendu Adhikari urges Sitharaman

Kolkata, Oct 28 (IANS) Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari on Friday appealed to Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman to reject fresh loan applications from the state government.

Referring to a fresh application for Rs 10,000 crore of market borrowing made by the West Bengal government to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), he said that since the state government has reached its borrowing limit under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, all fresh borrowing applications should be rejected.

Adhikari has also claimed that the state government is currently reeling under an accumulated debt burden to the tune of around Rs 6,00,000 crore.

In his message, the BJP leader has also alleged that although the state government has made the fresh borrowing application for the purpose of infrastructure development in the state, in reality it would spend the amount for payment of salaries and wages as well as payments under dole scheme like Lakshmir Bhandar, the monthly dole scheme for women of the state ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000.

“Needless to say, there are many fake workers in Local Bodies & most of the Laxmi Bhandar beneficiaries are not eligible to receive any doles. If this loan is allowed then valuable funds of the Govt of India will go astray by sheer misuse of the Public Funds,” he said.

He ended his message with a piece of advice for the state government that it should try to increase its own revenue generation by modifying land policy and creating a congenial environment for setting up industries and drawing investments to revive the economy, create employment, and reduce debt burden.

Reacting to the message, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member, Santanu Sen said such notes are natural for a politician like Adhikari “who is anti-Bengal and anti-Bengali”.

“This is not the first time that he is appealing to the Union government to stop payments to the West Bengal government. Previously too he had objected to payment of central dues under various heads to the state government,” he said.

–IANS
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