West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during a public distribution meeting at Bardhaman on Tuesday claimed that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government has been able to provide 76% water supply in rural areas and 78% in urban areas.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “During our regime, we have been able to provide 76% water supply in rural areas and 78% in urban areas. We spent over Rs 38,000 crore on this. We gave land free of cost and also maintain the system. We still need Rs 65,000 crore more. They [Centre] collect taxes from here but do not return funds to us. Now we have only one tax – GST. Funds for five schemes have been stopped. We are having to run those too.”
The CM added, “After 2011, we gave 2.26 lakh Griha Patta, 1.80 lakh Krishi Patta, and over 47,000 Forest Patta across the State. In Purba Bardhaman alone, 28,840 Patta, 832 Refugee Patta and 1,443 Forest Patta have been distributed. We will give another 24,000 Patta in the coming days. Many projects are underway here.”
“We will make all mud house permanent”
Mamata said during her speech, “We will build the houses. We will make all mud houses permanent. Funds under MGNREGA, Grameen Sadak Yojana, and Jal Swapna Scheme have been stopped by the Centre. We are giving our share of the funds though. They have also stopped funds for SSM and Banglar Bari. Despite this, we have built 47 lakh houses and for 12 lakh houses, we have already provided funds for upgradation into permanent structures. The remaining 16 lakh houses will receive the first instalment in December and the second in June.”
She also said, “In this monsoon, mud houses have been destroyed or swept away. Do not worry. I will tell the District Magistrates to prepare the list of such destroyed houses and send it to the Chief Secretary. We will launch a separate programme for this. This is an additional initiative outside the 28 lakh houses that we are already building.”
What Karmasree gave
Banerjee gave data on success of Karmasree during her speech at Bardhaman public distribution programme, “Bengal has secured the first position in rice production in India. I congratulate everyone, especially the farmers. I have started the Karmashree Scheme as the Centre has stopped MGNREGA funds. Under this, 78 lakh people have received job cards. We have created 91 crore man-days by spending Rs 19,000 crore from the State exchequer.”
She then added, “Kanyashree is our mega project which has earned global recognition. Regarding OBC reservation, we have not cut into the general quota. There is a separate fund for that so that general category students do not face any trouble.”
She also said on GST that, “We said that GST should be removed for health insurances and that insurance companies should not increase the premium. We have faced a revenue loss of Rs 900 crore because of this.”