West Bengal paying Rs 20,000 crore interest for debt: Biman Banerjee

JAMSHEDPUR: The Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal inherited Rs 2.30 lakh crore debt from the previous Left Front government and was repaying Rs 20,000 crore in the form of interest only every month, West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said today.

The huge interest burden which the TMC government is paying for the debt incurred by the previous Left Front government was affecting the development works of the state, Banerjee, who is on a private visit here said.

Despite all this, West Bengal has recorded development in all front including education, road, health as well as industrial sector, he said.

We are witnessing a wide-spread development work and the new investment was being made in the industrial sector during the last two year, Banerjee claimed adding that the state government was sincerely exploring new avenues to generate revenue.

Referring the recent attack on Mamata Banerjee and the Finance Minister Amit Mitra near the Planning Commission office in Delhi, Banerjee described the incident as "barbaric and unprecedented."

Banerjee said an investigation in this regard has been ordered and the Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Sindhe assured to punish the culprits involved in the incident.

To a query on the death of Students' Federation of India (SFI) leader Sudipto Gupta recently, Banerjee said the state government has already ordered a probe in the incident and assured stringent action against the culprits.

However, the issue was unnecessarily being politicised by the Left parties, he said adding that the exact cause of death whether it was due to accident or any other reason would be known following the completion of the investigation.