Planning Commission approves Rs 22,214 crore for WB

KOLKATA: The Planning Commission on Wednesday approved a Rs 22,214 crore annual plan allocation for West Bengal, which is a good 24% more than last's year's allocation of Rs 17,985 crore.

An elated Mamata Banerjee announced this after her meeting with the Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The allocation witnessed a surge of around Rs 4,000 crore, which she demanded for the cash-starved state.

.She said that the state will build 17 industrial clusters in the next two years with the funding support. In her first Delhi visit after becoming the first chief minister of the state, she was accompanied by state finance minister Amit Mitra and planning & development minister Manish Gupta.

This hefty rise allocation is in step with New Delhi's promise to assist the new government in West Bengal and offer a bail-out package to the cash-starved state, which is saddled with an outstanding debt of Rs 1.96 lakh crore.

Besides the rise in annual allocation, Mamata Banerjee has sought an additional Rs 47,000 crore package from the central government to meet the state's long term funding needs for trouble-torn Maoist areas and north Bengal districts, and to carry on pro-poor development programmes.

The state is in a virtual debt trap with Rs 1.96 lakh crore of outstanding dues and acute revenue deficit. Out of the state's earning of Re 1, it spends 93 paise on salaries, pensions and interest payment, leaving virtually nothing for capital formation and development.