April 8, 2013
CM to attend meeting of Planning Commission, to meet Prime Minister at New Delhi tomorrow
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday said that she will meet the Prime Minister and Finance minister during her tour to New Delhi and urge them to lift the ` economic blockade` against West Bengal. Bengal Chief Minister will be in New Delhi from Monday to attend Planning Commission meeting.
Before leaving Writers' Buildings, Chief Minister told that `I shall meet the Prime Minister tomorrow after the Planning Commission meeting and the Union finance minister P.Chidambaram on Wednesday at 3 p.m. and urge them not to deprive our state economically.`
`We are not beggars. Neither have we wanted any special favour or special package from the Centre. Kerala and Punjab are two Congress-ruled states and both are facing with acute loan burden. But the Centre is providing them with some financial relief, while depriving us because we are no longer in the UPA government. I don`t want any special advantage from the Centre, but I must tell them that the Centre will have to give us our financial dues. This year our government had managed to earn an additional Rs 12,000 crore. But the Centre had collected Rs 4,000 crore from our additional income. The Centre collects revenues worth Rs 40,000 crore from our state, but return us just Rs 18,000 crore. I am going to Delhi not for any political reason, but for holding talks with the Centre to realize our legitimate financial demands,` Chief Minister told today.
She also said that the Centre had stopped financial assistance to her government for providing rice and wheat at Rs 2 per kilogram to the poor people in Jangalmahal. `I will ask the Centre why they have stopped grants to our government for providing rice at a cheaper rate,` the Chief Minister said.
