West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister about the Union Government not complying with the request for financial aid for the flood-hit districts of the state.
The West Bengal Chief Minister has been protesting time and again regarding the non-cooperation of the Union Government, said that the State Government has not received any intimation about any financial assistance despite a central team having surveyed the flood-affected areas two months ago. In fact, soon after the floods, the West Bengal Chief Minister had met the Prime Minister in Delhi and apprised him of the flood situation in the state along with the extent of damage.
The State Government considers this to be an insult since it has neither received any intimation from Delhi on the financial assistance nor has it been informed about the outcome of the survey conducted by the central team. Moreover, the state government is going through an acute financial crisis and is in a dire need of central assistance.
The West Bengal Chief Minister had placed a demand for financial assistance amounting to Rs.23,000 crore out of which Rs.1,100 crore was earmarked for agriculture sector alone. The assistance was meant to be used for compensating farmers whose crops were damaged in the floods. A major portion of the assistance was also earmarked for repairing roads that were damaged in the floods.
The floods damaged crops in over 10 lakh hectares, which in turn had affected around 72 lakh farmers.
The West Bengal Chief Minister had declared 12 districts flood hit on 5 August. A month later, a central team visited the state to survey the extent of damage in the areas affected by flood.
Despite the financial crunch, the state government has sanctioned Rs.1000 crore for compensating farmers, of which Rs.600 crore has already been disbursed, with distribution of the remaining amount slated to start soon. However, the amount is much less compared to the total extent of damage and there is an urgent need for the Central aid.
