May 10, 2015
Poor people are the backbone of the country: WB CM
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called for better coordination between states and the Centre for overall development of the states and the country.
“If the states and the Centre work together in coordination, it will help in the overall development of the masses,” Ms Banerjee said at a function at Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata.
She also urged the Centre to ensure that at least every panchayat in the country is covered by banking services.
“After I came to power in 2011 more than 1,000 panchayats out of 3,500 in the state did not have banks. Then we offered one rupee rent to banks and asked them to open branches. We have been able to open 171 banks out of the 1,000 left. I would request the Centre to see that at least every panchayat is covered by banking services so that it helps the poor,” she said.
Citing the achievements of the TMC government in the empowerment of girls, WB CM spoke about the success of the ‘Kanyashree’ project which has covered 24 lakh girl child in the state. She said while Centre allocated only Rs 100 crore for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Bengal had allocated Rs 1000 crore for Kanyashree scheme.
