Kolkata, Feb 5 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday expressed displeasure at the Centre for allocating over Rs 950 crore to the state for the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ project and termed it as a political ploy ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha election, a highly placed source said.
Banerjee, who chaired Monday’s cabinet meeting, believes that this allocation is a tactic by the central government to divert attention from the state’s demands for unpaid dues under various central government schemes, the source added.
“The CM expressed her unhappiness with the Centre’s sudden release of the funds for the Jal Jeevan Mission. She believes that it was a move to divert attention from the state’s demand to release unpaid dues of the state ahead of the general elections,” the official told PTI.
Last Friday, the Centre allocated Rs 951.57 crore for Bengal, the day when the Trinamool Congress supremo started a 48-hour dharna demanding release of funds due to the state under several welfare schemes including 100 days’ work and PMGAY.
“The Centre and the states are equal partners under the mission. That means the state government also has to spend a similar amount for this project and have to deposit it in the escrow account. The Centre in its letter to the state mentioned that this money cannot be used in any other sector,” he added.
At the meeting, Banerjee also expressed her discontentment stating that the Centre was trying to take all the credit for the scheme despite the state government playing a much more important role in realising the project starting from land selection and subsequent reforms, he said.
The Jal Jeevan Mission is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India.
In other developments, the Cabinet approved the expansion of Kolkata Police jurisdiction to include a portion of the Narendrapur police station area, which is currently under Baruipur police district.
As part of the plan, Narendrapur police station will be divided into three police stations and two out of them, Khowada and Atghara, will be brought under Kolkata Police.
“The cabinet also cleared the creation of 314 posts in various categories for these police stations,” he added.
Talking about the reason, a senior minister referred to a few law and order incidents in the area.
“There have been a few incidents of unrest and today’s decision was taken to tighten surveillance,” he said. PTI SCH MNB
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