WB facing financial mismanagement, high debt leaving no fiscal room to implement any scheme: FM Sitharaman

WB facing financial mismanagement, high debt leaving no fiscal room to implement any scheme: FM Sitharaman

2024-02-27 16:48:22

Kolkata: West Bengal has been facing financial mismanagement and its high debt is leaving no fiscal room to implement any scheme that the state government has promised, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Tuesday, criticising the Mamata Banerjee-government for the financial and economic mess.

She said that the eastern state’s annual per capita income growth has been lower than the national average for two decades while it contributed merely 3.5% of the country’s total industrial production in 2020-2021, once morest 25% during Independence.

“Everytime I see these kinds of numbers, my heart sinks in grief,” Sitharaman said at an event at the National Library in Kolkata, organised by Khola Hawa India, in which former BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta is one of the founding members.
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FM said that the state government has not taken any step to reverse the downfall in capital formation, industrialization.

“Bengal played such a wonderful role for the country, all through history.. your thought leaders, your industry leaders, you stood out in culture, you stood out in music, you stood out in knowledge. Now one parameter you are standing out — tolabaazi,” she said, referring to the extortion racket that has allegedly flourished in the state.

“The nexus of corruption and syndicated life has paralysed the state,” the FM said.She stressed that West Bengal has been one of the major beneficiaries of the nation’s infrastructure push since 2014 and now the state government needs to work hand-in-hand to get the benefit out of it.”Eastern India is going to be the engine of growth. That’s the kind of emphasis we are placing on the east,” she said.

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